The markets plunged to close sharply lower as crude oil prices soared to close at a record $107.90 a barrel while a series of downgrades weighed on the mortgage sector. Dow plummeted 154 points to 11,740 while Nasdaq skidded 43 points to 2169.

On the upside

Iomega (NYSE: IOM) rejected an unsolicited $178.1 million takeover offer by EMC (NYSE: EMC) saying that Iomega's current merger deal with ExcelStor was a better deal.

MoneyGram International (NYSE: MGI) will offer an investment team a larger stake in the company at a better price.

Roth Capital upgraded Art Technology Group (Nasdaq: ARTG).

On the downside

Shares of Ambac Financial (NYSE: ABK) tumbled over concerns that the sale of shares to raise $1.5 billion last week diluted current investors' holdings.

Converted Organics (Nasdaq: COIN) announced that more than a third of outstanding Class A public warrants have been converted to stock at $8.25 per warrant with each warrant converted into 1.2155 shares of common stock.

SunTrust Robinson Humphrey downgraded Somanetics (Nasdaq: SMTS).

In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of more than 5 to 1 on the NYSE and by nearly 7 to 2 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks plunged 16 points to 644.