Aug. 23 (UPI) — U.S. markets fell on Tuesday as the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 dropped for the third consecutive day.
The blue-chip Dow fell 154.02 points, or 0.47%, while the broad S&P declined 0.22% and the Nasdaq Composite dipped 0.0022%.
Tuesday’s losses came as S&P Global released its preliminary August reading on the service sector and manufacturing activity which showed that the service sector purchasing managers’ index fell to 44.1, a 27-month low, while the manufacturing PMI fell to 51.3, down from 52.2 in July.
Sian Jones, senior economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence said in a statement that the data “signaled further disconcerting signs for the health of the U.S. private sector.”
“Demand conditions were dampened again, sparked by the impact of interest rate hikes and strong inflationary pressures on customer spending, which weighed on activity,” Jones said. “Gathering clouds spread across the private sector as services new orders returned to contractionary territory, mirroring the subdued demand conditions seen at their manufacturing counterparts.”
Real estate, healthcare and communication services were the worst performing sectors on the S&P 500.
Conversely, energy was the best performing sector, rising 3.6%, as crude oil futures rose with West Texas Intermediate crude — the U.S. benchmark — climbed nearly 4% to about $93.60.
Shares of Zoom fell 16.54% after posting quarterly results Monday night.
The video conferencing company lowered its full-year guidance to $4.4 billion, down from $4.6 billion in prior forecasts.
Markets entered Tuesday coming off of a negative session that saw the Dow decline 643 points while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq both fell more than 2%, with all three major indexes posting their worst sessions since June.
