U.S. Stocks Seeing Further Downside After Early Sell-Off

(RTTNews) - After moving sharply lower early in the session, stocks have seen further downside over the course of the trading day on Tuesday. The major averages have all shown significant moves to the downside after ending last Friday's mixed.

In recent trading, the major averages have fallen to new lows for the session. The Dow is down 631.76 points or 1.9 percent at 33,194.93, the Nasdaq is down 260.03 points or 2.2 percent at 11,527.24 and the S&P 500 is down 76.36 points or 1.9 percent at 4,002.73.

The sell-off on Wall Street partly reflects ongoing concerns about the outlook for interest rates amid a sharp increase in treasury yields.

The ten-year yield has more than offset the dip seen last Friday, reaching its highest intraday level in over three months.

Recent economic data has led to worries the Federal Reserve may raise rates higher than currently anticipated and keep rates at an elevated level for an extended period.

On Wednesday, the Fed is scheduled to release the minutes of its latest monetary policy meeting, which could shed additional light on the outlook for interest rates.

Geopolitical concerns are also weighing on the markets after Russian President Vladimir Putin said he is suspending Russia's participation in a nuclear arms treaty with the U.S.

The announcement by Putin comes after U.S. President Joe Biden made a surprise visit to Ukraine's capital Kyiv on Monday.

Home improvement retailer Home Depot (HD) is leading the Dow lower after reporting fourth quarter sales that missed analyst estimates and providing a downbeat forecast.

Sector News

Airline stocks have moved sharply lower over the course of the session, resulting in a 3.4 percent nosedive by the NYSE Airline Index. The index has plunged to its lowest intraday level in over a month.

Substantial weakness also remains visible among housing stocks, as reflected by the 3.3 percent slump by the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index.

The sell-off by housing stocks comes following the release of a report from the National Association of Realtors unexpectedly showing a continued decrease in U.S. existing home sales in the month of January.

Banking stocks are also seeing significant weakness, dragging the KBW Bank Index down by 3.0 percent to its lowest intraday level in almost a month.

Telecom, tobacco and computer hardware stocks have also shown notable moves to the downside amid broad based weakness on Wall Street.

Other Markets

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in a mixed performance on Tuesday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index dipped by 0.2 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index climbed by 0.5 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets all moved to the downside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index fell by 0.4 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index and the German DAX Index both slid by 0.5 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries have once again come under pressure after ending last Friday's trading modestly higher. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price is up by 12.1 basis points at 3.949 percent.