Investors are facing a heavy week, with earnings results from some of the nation’s biggest companies.
NEW YORK — Stocks closed broadly lower on Wall Street Tuesday, weighed down by sharp declines in Big Tech stocks that also left the Nasdaq with its worst drop since September 2020. Investors are busy reviewing the latest round of corporate earnings and are facing a particularly heavy week with results from some of the nation’s biggest companies. The latest corporate report cards are hitting Wall Street amid lingering concerns about rising inflation, interest rate hikes and potential damage to global economic growth. The S&P 500 fell 120.92 points, or 2.8 percent to 4,175.20. The benchmark index closed the day with 95 percent of its stocks losing ground. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 809.28 points, or 2.4 percent, to 33,240.18. The tech-heavy Nasdaq bore the brunt of the day’s losses. It fell 514.11 points, or 4 percent, to 12,490.74. That’s its worst drop since Sept.8,2020. The index is now down 20 percent so far this year as investors shun the ultra-pricey tech sector, which had made gangbuster gains for much of the pandemic. With interest rates set to rise as the Federal Reserve steps up its inflation fight, traders are less and less willing to endure the lofty prices they had been paying for Microsoft, Facebook’s parent company and other tech giants. Microsoft fell 3.7 percent. Google’s parent company, Alphabet, fell 3.6 percent in regular trading and lost another 6 percent in after-hours trading after reporting results that fell short of anlaysts’ estimates. More big technology companies are on deck to report earnings this week, including Facebook parent’s company, Meta, on Wednesday, and Apple on Thursday. Tesla slumped 12.2 percent over concerns that CEO Elon Musk will be distracted and less engaged in running the electric vehicle maker as he buys social media company Twitter, which fell 3.
