U.S. stocks join global rout hitting auto, commodities
NEW YORK -- U.S. stocks declined on Tuesday, with biotechnology and commodities shares hit and Volkswagen's escalating troubles shaking auto shares.
Mylan (MYL), a distributor of generic drugs, fell 3.1 percent; biotechs Celgene (CELG) and Amgen (AMGN) both declined about 1 percent.
"Hillary Clinton addressed what she would do to bring down reimbursements is taking a real dent out of healthcare and biotech stocks," Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Wunderlich Securities, said, referring to the Democratic presidential candidate's tweet criticizing price gouging in the specialty drug market. "The Volkswagen debacle has cast a negative halo over the entire auto industry.
Shares of Volkswagen plunged in Frankfurt as a scandal over rigged pollution-control software broadened, with the German automaker saying 11 million diesel vehicles are affected.
U.S. auto manufacturers also took a hit, with Ford (F) off almost 4 percent and General Motors (GM) down 3 percent.
The Dow Jones industrial Average (DJI) fell 180 points, or 1.1 percent, to 16,330, with 27 of 30 components finishing in the red.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index (SPX) dropped 24 points, or 1.2 percent, to 1,943, with all 10 of its major industry groups losing ground. The Nasdaq Composite (COMP) fell 72 points, or 1.5 percent, to 4,757.
The price of oil and gold dropped and U.S. Treasuries rallied, with the year on the 10-year note used to figure mortgage rates and other consumer loans rising to 2.13 percent.