U.S. Stocks Moving Sharply Lower In Morning Trading

Stocks have moved sharply lower in morning trading on Tuesday, extending the pullback seen in the previous session. The major averages have all slid firmly into negative territory, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq hitting its lowest intraday level in well over a month.

In recent trading, the Dow and the S&P 500 have fallen to new lows for the session. The Dow is down 609.91 points or 1.8 percent at 34,132.91, the Nasdaq is down 231.48 points or 1.7 percent at 13,170.38 and the S&P 500 is down 72.80 points or 1.7 percent at 4,115.63.

The sell-off on Wall Street is partly due to continued weakness among technology stocks, which also helped lead the way lower on Monday.

Tech giant Apple (AAPL) has slumped by 2.2 percent to its lowest intraday level in over a month, while Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL) and Facebook (FB) have also moved to the downside.

Shares of Tesla (TSLA) are also seeing notable weakness after a report from Reuters said the electric car maker has halted plans to buy land to expand its Shanghai plant and make it a global export hub.

The weakness among technology stocks partly reflect concerns about an acceleration in the rate of inflation and potential monetary policy tightening by the Federal Reserve.

The Fed has attributed the increase in inflation to “transitory factors,” although analysts have suggested the central bank will still begin considering tapering its asset purchases in the coming months.

Traders are likely to keep a close eye on reports on consumer and producer inflation due to be released on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively.

Airline stocks are also moving sharply lower in morning trading, resulting in a 3.9 percent nosedive by the NYSE Arca Airline Index.

Substantial weakness has also emerged among housing stocks, as reflected by the 3.9 percent slump by the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index. The index ended the previous session at its best closing level since a two-for-one split in early 2006.

Computer hardware stocks have also shown a significant move to the downside, dragging the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index down by 3.5 percent to its lowest intraday level in over a month.

Energy, semiconductor and commercial real estate stocks are also seeing considerable weakness, moving lower along with most of the other major sectors.

In overseas trading, most stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved sharply lower during trading on Tuesday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index plummeted by 3.1 percent, while Hong Kong Hang Seng Index tumbled by 2 percent.

The major European markets have also shown significant moves to the downside on the day. While the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index has plunged by 2.3 percent, the German DAX Index and the French CAC 40 Index are both down by 1.9 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries are extending the downward move seen over the course of the previous session. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is up by 2 basis points at 1.602 percent.