Equities Fall Hard for Second Day



U.S. stocks fell Tuesday, on track for another losing session as the technology sector struggled.

The Dow Jones Industrials plunged 329.45 points by noon hour Tuesday to 38,660.38.

The S&P 500 dropped 52.6 points to 5,078.55.

The NASDAQ sank 291.54 points, or 1.8%, to 15,915.97, as technology stocks felt the brunt of the market’s drop.

Apple slipped almost 3% on the back of a report from Counterpoint Research that found iPhone sales plunged in China in the first six weeks of 2024.

Several other mega-cap technology stocks including Tesla, Netflix and Microsoft shed more than 2%. The S&P 500's information technology sector led the broad index down with a drop of more than 2%.

AMD fell more than 1% after Bloomberg News reported the chipmaker hit a regulatory snag that will prevent it from selling an artificial intelligence chip to China. GitLab tumbled more than 19% after the software company posted a weak forecast for the full year.

Beyond technology, Target jumped more than 11% after holiday-quarter earnings came in stronger than Wall Street forecast. AeroVironment rallied more than 29% following a better-than-anticipated quarterly report and outlook from the defense company.

Prices for the 10-year Treasury bounced, lowering yields to 4.15% from Monday’s 4.22%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

Oil prices reversed course and gained 27 cents to $79.01 U.S. a barrel.

Gold prices surged $10.20 to $2,136.50.