Dow Jones dives 248 points as Mideast rattles Wall Street

NEW YORK, New York - Fears about accelerating hostilities in the Middle East, strong retail data, rising U.S. Treasury yields and a corresponding jump in the dollar, and a spike in oil prices kept investors and traders on their toes on Monday.

All the major stock indices declined.

"It's really all trading off of news snippets and pieces that are coming out of the Middle East right now," Alex McGrath, chief