Stocks pared their losses on Wall Street as an early spike in crude oil prices eased later in the day.

The roller-coaster ride for oil prices Thursday underscored how they’re dictating where financial markets and maybe even the economy are heading. The S&P 500 fell 0.3% after erasing an earlier drop of 1%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.4%, and the Nasdaq composite fell 0.3%.

Markets in Europe and Asia had considerably larger losses, when oil prices were higher earlier in the day. If oil prices stay high, the worry is that they could cause inflation to rip higher around the world.

On Thursday:

The S&P 500 fell 18.21 points, or 0.3%, to 6,606.49.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 203.72 points, or 0.4%, to 46,021.43.

The Nasdaq composite fell 61.73 points, or 0.3%, to 22,090.69.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 16.07 points, or 0.6% to 2,494.71.

For the week:

The S&P 500 is down 25.70 points, or 0.4%.

The Dow is down 537.04 points, or 1.2%.

The Nasdaq is down 14.67 points, or 0.1%.

The Russell 2000 is up 14.66 points, or 0.6%.

For the year:

The S&P 500 is down 239.01 points, or 3.5%.

The Dow is down 2,041.86 points, or 4.2%.

The Nasdaq is down 1,151.30 points, or 5%.

The Russell 2000 is up 12.80 points, or 0.5%.