- Wall Street stocks fell sharply amid global concerns over Middle East conflict and inflation risks
- Dow Jones dropped 2.2%, S&P 500 fell 1.9%, and Nasdaq declined 2.0% early Tuesday
- Investors turned pessimistic as the conflict showed signs of prolonged geopolitical impact
Wall Street stocks tumbled early Tuesday, joining a global sell-off as markets worry about a long-running Middle East war boosting oil prices and inflation.
About 20 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 2.2 percent at 47,837.16.
The broad-based S&P 500 shed 1.9 percent to 6,749.42, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index slid 2.0 percent to 22,300.67.
US stocks also opened decisively lower on Monday but strengthened throughout the day as investors appeared to bet on a fairly quick resolution that wouldn't lead to a sustained hike in energy prices.
But investors were more pessimistic on Tuesday.
"Overnight, what we realized was that this is not going away so quickly" and is "meeting the standards of having a broad geopolitical impact," said Steve Sosnick of Interactive Brokers.
Oil prices surged again on Tuesday as Iran attacked additional energy facilities. Drones struck a fuel tank in Oman, and in the UAE an oil storage zone was hit by falling debris from an intercepted drone.
The Strait of Hormuz, a key transport waterway, remained effectively empty.
"US investors can only trust their positive psychology to some extent before they realize that, 'Wait a minute, if this is a problem for everyone else in the world, maybe this should be a problem here too,'" Sosnick said.
We're talking about "something that could have an important inflationary impact," he added.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
