Markets were weak for most of the session, but selling
accelerated in the afternoon on reports that Russian troops were massing near
the Ukraine border. The S&P is down 3.4 percent from its record
closing high of 1,987.98 points reached on July 24.
The energy index .SPNY ended 2.1 percent lower, dragged down
by concerns about oversupply of oil and disappointing results from Pioneer
Natural Resources. Pioneer lost 5.6 percent and was the worst-performing S&P energy
name. Normally, tensions in oil-producing regions like Russia would boost the
price of oil, but bigger worries about demand and poor margins overwhelmed
those concerns.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 139.81
points, or 0.84 percent, to 16,429.47, the S&P 500 ended down 18.78
points, or 0.97 percent, to 1,920.21, and the Nasdaq Composite lost
31.05 points, or 0.71 percent, to 4,352.84.
Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the New York
Stock Exchange by 2,194 to 844, for a 2.60-to-1 ratio on the downside. On the Nasdaq,
1,556 issues fell and 1,116 advanced for a 1.39-to-1 ratio.
Shortly after the close, Twenty-First Century Fox, the media
company controlled by Rupert Murdoch, said it had withdrawn its offer to buy
Time Warner. Shares of Fox jumped, gaining 7.7 percent in after-hours action,
while Time Warner shares fell 11.4 percent.
Earlier in the day, the market was lifted by data showing
new orders for U.S. factory goods rose more than expected in June, and that a
measure of growth in the services sector increased at the fastest rate in 8-1/2
years.
According to data from BATS Global Markets, about 6.2
billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges on Tuesday, short of the 6.7
billion average for the last five days.
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