Stocks are falling sharply on Wall Street as big technology and industrial companies take heavy losses.

The Dow Jones industrial average plunged as much as 600 points Tuesday, weighed down by sharp drops in Caterpillar, a heavy equipment maker, and manufacturer 3M.

Caterpillar warned of weaker profits and 3M, like several other manufacturers reporting their quarterly results, said it was seeing higher costs for raw materials.

Mining company Freeport-McMoRan plunged 16 percent.