The major U.S. stock indexes plummeted on Tuesday morning, giving up all of their gains for the year.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 585 points. The S&P 500 dived 2 percent. The Nasdaq Composite, heavily loaded with tech stocks, dropped 2.5 percent. All three indexes are now flat or negative for 2018.
Retail and tech stocks were some of worst performers in early trading. Target fell by more than 10 percent after reporting quarterly earnings that disappointed investors. Apple shares fell by nearly 4 percent. Google’s Alphabet shares dropped by 1.4 percent. Amazon’s were off by 2.3 percent. Twitter shares sank 3.5 percent.
Facebook shares, which have sold off sharply in recent days, actually rose a half of a percentage point in the first hour of trading.