NEW YORK: Wall Street stocks fell sharply after midday on Tuesday, amid anxiety over rising interest rates and as some prominent blue-chip companies tumbled after earnings reports.
About 1800 GMT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 2.4 percent at 23,870.37.
The broad-based S&P 500 fell 1.8 percent to 2,622.87, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index slid 2.1 percent to 6,978.22.
US stocks had begun the session mildly positive, but began falling soon after the yield on the 10-year US Treasury bond hit 3.0 percent for the first time in more than four years.
The Federal Reserve has been gradually raising interest rates amid an improving US economy and expectations for steeper inflation. Investors fear that higher yields are a signal the central bank will need to hike interest rates more quickly than currently expected.
Adding to the downward trend were some ugly moves lower by prominent companies following earnings, including Google parent Alphabet, which sank 4.5 percent on worries about higher costs even as quarterly earnings soared more than 70 percent to $9.4 billion.
“Earnings are good but not great,” said Phil Davis of PSW Investments. “It’s impossible to live up to the expectations.”
In the Dow, Caterpillar shares sank 6.8 percent after a conference call in which an executive signaled that the company’s first-quarter would be its peak for 2018, denting hopes of higher profits down the road.
Caterpillar had opened the session sharply higher after scoring a huge jump in first-quarter profits and upgrading its full-year forecast.
3M was another big loser in the Dow, falling 8.6 percent after it lowered its full-year forecast and disclosed an $897 million charge connected to settling a lawsuit with the state of Minnesota over release of chemicals by the industrial company that allegedly polluted drinking water.
Source: Brecorder
