New York ? Stocks plunged Thursday, sending the Dow Jones industrials down 166 points as oil prices briefly moved past the psychologically important $60 per barrel level for the first time.

A FedEx jet taxies away from the terminal in Anchorage, Alaska. FedEx Corp. reported a 9 percent increase in fourth-quarter earnings Thursday, but fell below Wall Street expectations. The company blamed high fuel costs for the disappointing profits.

Oil’s advance accelerated a selloff prompted by poor earnings from FedEx Corp., which blamed high fuel prices for its disappointing profits.

FedEx’s earnings missed Wall Street’s expectations and raised new concerns about oil’s impact on corporate profits. That led crude oil futures to creep higher through the day, breaking through the $60-per-barrel barrier.

While purely psychological, analysts said, the move was enough to send stocks tumbling; a barrel of light crude settled at $59.42, up $1.33, on the New York Mercantile Exchange after peaking at $60.05, an intraday record.

“We always wondered what $60 a barrel oil would cost us, and now we know,” said Jeff Kleintop, chief investment strategist for PNC Financial Services Group in Philadelphia. “On top of that, you’ve got news from FedEx, a transportation company, saying, ‘Yeah, oil is hurting us.’ That’s got the market shaken up a bit.”

The Dow fell 166.49, or 1.57 percent, to 10,421.44. Broader stock indicators also lost substantial ground.