Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in New York City on Monday. Stocks continued a recent sell-off over economic and earnigns fears. On Tuesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped by more than 800 points, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq slumped almost 4 percent lower, sinking further into bear territory.
There is plenty of cause for alarm on Wall Street at a time when investors were already worried about sharply higher interest rates as the Federal Reserve fights inflation. Russia's invasion of Ukraine has also led to concerns about food and energy supplies, further ratcheting up inflation fears. After the closing bell on Tuesday, Alphabet announced its profits were lower than Wall Street expected, thanks in part to higher costs, and Microsoft reported revenue that was slightly higher than anticipated.