Dow falls more than 600 points in final hour of trading
U.S. stocks were getting hit at the beginning of a historically tough month of the year for the market, after weak manufacturing data fueled fears that the economy might be headed for a slowdown.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was tumbling more than 600 points, or 1.5%, to trade at 40,945 in the final hour of trading on Tuesday.
The S&P 500 was off 2% to trade at 5,536, as of 3:00 p.m. Eastern time, while the Nasdaq Composite was slumping 3.1% to 17,169, according to FactSet data.
Both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq were set for their worst first day of a month since May 2020, while the Dow was on pace for its worst first day of September since 2015, according to Dow Jones Market Data.