Wall Street

Green news from Wall Street: Merrill Lynch will invest of $9 million to finance a project to protect 750,000 hectares of forest in Indonesia.

Wall Street hit a sharp skid today as more worrisome signs about the health of the housing market emerged and oil prices remained near record levels.

Near-record oil prices also seemed to be rattling investors today. The price of a barrel of oil on the New York Mercantile Exchange topped $77 in trading today for the first time since last summer before falling back to $74.95, down 93 cents. Prices have closed above $77 a barrel only once before.