A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
New York Stock Exchange
Stocks fell Tuesday as technology companies suffered and fresh economic data stoked concerns about the health of the economy.
the Dow Jones Industrial Average It traded down 460 points, or 1.1%. Standard & Poor's 500 It decreased by 1.4%, while Nasdaq Composite It decreased by 2.1%.
Stocks felt downward pressure. NvidiaShares of the artificial intelligence company that has captured investors’ attention for more than a year fell about 6%. It was one of several semiconductor stocks including micron, Kosovo Liberation Army and Advanced Micro Devices It saw declines in the session. Van Eck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) It fell by more than 4%.
The market also fell Tuesday morning after two readings on manufacturing output showed signs of weakness, raising concerns about slowing growth in the U.S. economy. The S&P Global reading showed a decline from July to August, while the Institute for Supply Management reading came in below the level economists polled by Dow Jones had expected.
“The market right now seems to be very nervous about any data that comes in,” said Larry Tintarelli, chief technical strategist at Blue Chip Trend Report. “We’ve become a very data-driven market.”
Tuesday's moves kick off the new trading month after the three major indexes ended August with gains. U.S. markets were closed Monday for the Labor Day holiday.
But the momentum that stocks gained in September wasn’t always expected. Concerns that the U.S. economy was sliding into recession, coupled with the unwinding of a popular hedge fund trade involving the Japanese yen, sent stocks tumbling in early August. At one point, the S&P 500 fell more than 7% during the month before recovering.
The move comes ahead of the first major economic report of the month on Friday, when the U.S. government releases its August jobs report. Wall Street will also have to contend with seasonal headwinds, with September the worst on average for the S&P 500 over the past decade.
