WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - With trading resuming following the long Labor Day weekend, stocks moved mostly lower during trading on Tuesday. The major averages all moved to the downside, with the Dow showing a particularly steep decline.
The Dow slumped 628.18 points or 1.2 percent to 52,786.07, the S&P 500 fell 45.08 points or 0.6 percent to 7,673.52 and the Nasdaq dipped 85.58 points or 0.3 percent to 26,421.41.
The weakness on Wall Street came amid a sharp increase by the price of crude oil due to the continued escalation of the conflict in the Middle East.
U.S. crude oil futures have surged by more than 2 percent after the U.S. struck three Iranian crude oil carriers over the weekend after Iran launched ballistic missiles toward two U.S. Navy warships patrolling regional waters.
Iran has threatened to retaliate against any new U.S. attacks on its assets and Saudi-led coalition forces vowed a resolute response to a wave of attacks from Houthi rebels.
Amid escalating tensions with the U.S., Teheran said a deal with Oman to manage shipping through the Strait of Hormuz was imminent.
A steep drop by shares of Amgen (AMGN) weighed on the Dow, with the biopharmaceutical company plunging by more than 10 percent.
The nosedive by Amgen came after Novartis (NVS) reported disappointing results from a late-stage clinical trial of a rival cholesterol drug.
However, overall trading activity remained somewhat subdued ahead of the release of the key U.S. inflation data later in the week.
The reports on consumer and producer price inflation could have a significant impact on the outlook for interest rates ahead of the Federal Reserve's next monetary policy meeting later this month.
Sector News
Pharmaceutical stocks showed a substantial move to the downside on the day, dragging the NYSE Arca Pharmaceutical Index down by 3.2 percent.
An increase by treasury yields also weighed on interest rate-sensitive housing stock, as reflected by the 2.8 percent slump by the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index.
Healthcare, airline and biotechnology stocks also saw significant weakness, while networking, oil and semiconductor stocks showed strong moves to the upside.
Other Markets
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly lower during trading on Tuesday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index slumped by 1.7 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell by 0.4 percent.
The major European markets have also moved to the downside on the day. While the German DAX Index is down by 0.3 percent, the French CAC 40 Index is down by 0.2 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is down by 0.1 percent.
In the bond market, treasuries moved lower late in the session after showing a lack of direction for much of the day. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, rose 2.2 basis points to 4.806 percent.
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