NEW YORK (AP) — Renewed concerns about economic growth abroad — specifically Europe and China — weighed on markets Tuesday, causing stocks to erase all of the previous day’s gains.
The Dow Jones industrial average lost 140.25 points, or 0.8 percent, to 17,750.91. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index lost 18.06 points, or 0.9 percent, to 2,063.37 and the Nasdaq composite lost 54.37 points, or 1.1 percent, to 4,763.22.
Stocks started lower and remained there most of the day, with the Dow moving down 100 to 200 points throughout the day.
The selling started in Asia, when a Chinese purchasing managers’ index for manufacturing declined to 49.4 last month from 49.7 in March. A number below 50 indicates that manufacturing is contracting. Worries about China were largely responsible for a bout of turmoil in global financial markets early this year.
Those concerns were compounded after European officials trimmed their economic growth forecasts for the 19 countries that share the euro currency, citing an unpredictable global outlook marked by political uncertainty and weakness in emerging markets.