Stocks dive as oil slumps and Greek worries resurface This is not the start to 2015 that investors were hoping for. The new year’s first full week started with a thud on Monday. The Dow industrials plummeted by 331 points, oil slumped below $50 a barrel and the euro slid to a nearly-nine-year low against the dollar. Below are four charts illustrating the rough start to 2015. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -1.86% closed down 331 points, or 1.9%, for its worst drop in about three months. Energy-related stocks led the way lower for the main stock indexes, as crude oil crashed again. Caterpillar CAT, -5.28% performed worst among Dow stocks, losing 5.3% after J.P. Morgan analysts cut the heavy-equipment maker to underweight, citing concerns about its exposure to the energy sector, as well as other factors. Oil major ChevronCVX, -0.43% was the second-biggest decliner, closing down 4%, and ExxonXOM, -2.74% was another big loser, off 2.7%. Energy stocks XLE, -0.58% were the worst-performing sector in the S&P 500 sliding 4% on Monday while the benchmark index dropped 1.8%. The sector has slumped since June, tracking oil’s downtrend over the past half-year. Energy stocks tried to recover in late December, but they’ve slumped again in the new year. Revenue forecasts and capital spending plans by energy companies “have been and will continue to be slashed” as a result of the oil-price drop, Goldman Sachs analysts said in a note. But reduced energy company earnings should be more than offset by higher revenues and margins for many other areas of the market, they also said. Investors, however, seemed less focused on those positives Monday. The U.S. oil benchmark CLG5, -2.08% tumbled 5% on Monday to settle at $50.04 a barrel, but it briefly fell below $50 intraday and was back under that level in electronic trading late Monday. Nagging worries of growing oil supplies and a surging U.S. dollar weighed on crude yet again. Worries about Greece potentially leaving the euro zone spooked investors, helping to send European stocks lower and pushing the common currency to its lowest level against the dollar since March 2006. The slide by the euro, which stabilized later Monday, also was triggered by expectations that Europe’s central bank soon will begin large-scale purchases of government bonds, a stimulus effort known as quantitative easing. What to make of Monday’s mayhem? “A takeaway from all of the new and old market fears today is to count on wider ranges in financial market values and expectations than in the unusually calm period that ended in mid-2014,” wrote Steven Wieting, Citi Private Bank’s global chief investment strategist. Victor Reklaitis