U.S. stocks slumped under the weight of a jump for the price of oil.
The S&P 500 fell 0.8% Tuesday following signals that Israel's conflict with Iran may be worsening and that one of the U.S. economy's main engines is weakening. That nearly erased the S&P 500's gain for the week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.7%, and the Nasdaq composite sank 0.9%.
Treasury yields also fell following a weaker-than-expected report on sales at U.S. retailers. Crude oil prices rose more than 4% on worries about damage to the flow of oil because of fighting between Israel and Iran.
On Tuesday:
The S&P 500 fell 50.39 points, or 0.8%, to 5,982.72.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 299.29 points, or 0.7%, to 42,215.80.
The Nasdaq composite fell 180.12 points, or 0.9%, to 19,521.09.
The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 22.17 points, or 1%, to 2,101.96.