Sector Snap: Utility company stocks falling

Bond prices fell sharply, sending yields on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note up to 3.91 percent from 3.8 percent late Thursday. Bond yields move opposite bond prices.

Investors often compare bond yields to utility company dividends when making investment decisions.

Crude oil, meanwhile, rose to a new record, rising as high as $147.27. At midday, light, sweet crude climbed $2.92 at $144.57 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange amid tensions between the West and Iran and the potential for attacks on Nigerian oil facilities.

The broader market fell with the Standard & Poor's 500 index dropping 25.63, or 2.04 percent, to 1,227.76--nearly 22 percent since October 2007. A decline of 20 percent or more is considered a "bear market."

In afternoon trading, Hawaiian Electric Industries Inc. fell 53 cents, or 2.1 percent, to $24.16, Pepco Holdings Inc. fell 43 cents, or 1.7 percent, to $25.07 and American Electric Power Inc. fell 69 cents, or 1.7 percent, to $40.12.