U.S. stocks ended sharply lower Tuesday, with the S&P 500 falling for a fourth straight day, as investors sought safe-haven assets amid recession concerns and increased market volatility.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -1.03% dropped around 350 points to close 1% lower, while the S&P 500 fell SPX, -1.44% 1.4% and the Nasdaq Composite COMP, -2.00% sank 2%, according to preliminary data from FactSet. Energy was the hardest hit sector of the S&P 500, followed by communication-services, information-technology and consumer-discretionary shares, FactSet data show. Utilities, a defensive area of the stock market, was the sole sector of the S&P 500 to finish with gains, rising around 0.7%. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note, a safe haven asset, fell 8.6 basis points to 3.512%, according to Dow Jones Market Data. Treasury yields and prices move in opposite directions.