After coming under pressure early in the session, stocks have seen further downside over the course of the trading day on Tuesday. The major averages have all moved sharply lower after showing a lack of direction over the two previous sessions.
In recent trading, the major averages have once again fallen to new lows for the session. The Dow is down 312.69 points or 0.9 percent at 33,562.71, the Nasdaq is down 190.50 points or 1.6 percent at 11,846.70 and the S&P 500 is down 55.02 points or 1.3 percent at 4,082.02.
The weakness on Wall Street partly reflects a negative reaction to quarterly results from First Republic (FRC), with the regional bank plunging by 43.4 percent.
The steep drop by First Republic comes after the company reported a loss of more than $100 billion in deposits in the first quarter, renewing concerns about turmoil in the banking sector.
Shares of UPS Inc. (UPS) have also moved sharply lower after the delivery giant reported weaker than expected first quarter results and forecast full-year revenue at the lower end of its prior forecast.
Meanwhile, other big-name companies like General Motors (GM), PepsiCo (PEP), McDonald's (MCD) and 3M (MMM) reported better than expected quarterly earnings but are turning in a mixed performance.
Traders continue to look ahead to quarterly results from Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL) and software giant Microsoft (MSFT) after the close of trading.
On the U.S. economic front, the Conference Board released a report showing consumer confidence has deteriorated by much more than anticipated in the month of April.
The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index slumped to 101.3 in April from a revised 104.0 in March. Economists had expected the index to edge down to 104.0 from the 104.2 originally reported for the previous month.
A separate report released by the Commerce Department showed new home sales unexpectedly spiked to their highest level in a year in March.
Sector News
Oil service stocks have pulled back sharply after rallying in the previous session, dragging the Philadelphia Oil Service Index down by 3.8 percent.
The sell-off by oil service stocks comes amid a steep drop by the price of crude oil, with crude for June delivery tumbling $1.78 to $76.98 a barrel.
Concerns about global demand are also contributing to substantial weakness among steel stocks, as reflected by the 3.8 percent nosedive by the NYSE Arca Steel Index.
Transportation stocks are also seeing considerable weakness following the disappointing results from UPS, resulting in a 3.6 percent slump by the Dow Jones Transportation Average.
Banking, semiconductor and networking stocks have also moved sharply lower over the course of the session amid broad based weakness.
Other Markets
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly lower during trading on Tuesday. While Japan's Nikkei 225 Index bucked the downtrend and crept up by 0.1 percent, China's Shanghai Composite Index fell by 0.3 percent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index tumbled by 1.7 percent.
Meanwhile, the major European markets turned in a mixed performance on the day. While the German DAX Index inched up by 0.1 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index dipped by 0.3 percent and the French CAC 40 Index slid by 0.6 percent.
In the bond market, treasuries have moved sharply higher, extending the advance seen in the previous session. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is down by 12.3 basis points at 3.392 percent.
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