Stocks slid on Tuesday, with the Dow Jones industrial average sinking well under 10,000 and the S&P 500 index falling below its 2010 closing low, after a gauge of consumer confidence trailed economists' estimates and concern grew that growth is slowing in China.
The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 268.14 points, or 2.64%, at 9,870.38; the S&P 500 fell 33,31, or 3.1%, ending at 1,041.26; and the Nasdaq composite closed down 85.47 points, or 3.85%, at 2,135.18. All numbers are preliminary.
Benchmark indexes extended early losses after the Conference Board's gauge of confidence among consumers slumped to 52.9 this month from a revised 62.7 in May as Americans became pessimistic about the outlook for the labor market and the economy. The median forecast called for a decline to 62.5, and the gauge was lower than all projections in a Bloomberg News survey of 71 economists.
The S&P 500 has tumbled 14% from this year's high on April 23 on concern a sovereign-debt crisis in Europe and China's moves to slow the world's largest emerging economy will dent global growth. The Conference Board on Tuesday revised its April leading economic index for China to 0.3%, from a gain of 1.7% reported June 15.
The Shanghai Composite index retreated 4.3% to 2,427.05 on Tuesday, the biggest drop since May 17 and the lowest close in 14 months.
Stocks retreated even after home prices in 20 U.S. cities rose in April from a year earlier as sales got a boost from a tax credit aimed at reviving the industry that triggered the worst recession since the 1930s. The S&P/Case-Shiller index of property values climbed 3.8% from April 2009, the biggest year-over-year gain since September 2006. The increase exceeded the median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.
