Dow Drops Almost 500 Points in Another Rough Day for Stocks

US stocks fell again on Tuesday following a sell-off that swept Europe and Asia.

• The S&P 500 fell 55.09 points, or 0.8%, to 6,617.32 after earlier dropping as much as 1.5%.
• The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 498.50 points, or 1.1%, to 46,091.74.
• The Nasdaq composite fell 275.23 points, or 1.2%, to 22,432.85.

Nvidia was again one of the heaviest weights on the market as worries continue that its price shot too high in the frenzy around artificial-intelligence technology. Bitcoin, another former high-flyer, briefly dropped below $90,000, down from nearly $125,000 last month, the AP reports. It later recovered some of its losses and climbed above $93,000. Stock indexes fell around the world as questions rise about whether stocks have become too expensive and whether the Federal Reserve will keep cutting interest rates.

Nvidia dropped 2.8%. It had been on track for a worse day earlier, and it sank as much as 3.7% during the morning. That briefly brought its loss for the month so far to more than 10%, which is what Wall Street calls a "correction," and its swings throughout the day dragged the rest of the market with it. What Nvidia does matters disproportionately to savers' 401(k) accounts because its immense size means it's the most influential stock on Wall Street. It single-handedly steers the direction of the S&P 500 some days, after fervent demand for its artificial-intelligence chips helped it briefly top $5 trillion in total value.

Home Depot also helped drag the market lower after falling 6%. It reported a weaker profit for the summer than analysts expected and cited a variety of reasons. Chief among them was a lack of storms, which would have driven customers to buy more home-improvement supplies. But CEO Ted Decker also pointed to "consumer uncertainty and continued pressure in housing" for preventing an expected increase in demand. Cloudflare fell 2.8% after an earlier issue at the internet infrastructure provider caused global outages for ChatGPT and other services.

story continues below

In stock markets abroad, indexes tumbled across Europe and Asia. Japan's Nikkei 225 dropped 3.2% after feeling extra pressure from a jump in Japanese government bond yields, reflecting rising risks as Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi prepares to boost government spending and push back the timetable for bringing down Japan's huge national debt. South Korea's Kospi sank 3.3%, and France's CAC 40 fell 1.9% for two of the larger drops worldwide.