Wall Street stocks fell in morning trading on Tuesday,
pulled down by a decline in tech heavyweights amid concerns over persistently
rising inflation’s impact on their bottom lines.

The S&P 500 index fell 94.14 points or 2.37% to
3,879.61 as of 10:18 a.m. Eastern Time Zone. The Dow Jones Industrial Average
fell 439.11 points or 1.38% to 31,441.13. The Nasdaq fell 434.16 or 3.76% to
11,101.11.

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As a result of a stark profit warning from Snapchat’s
parent company, investors dumped the stocks of major social media companies.
Snap tumbled 39%, Meta plummeted 10% and Google’s parent Alphabet fell 8%.

Technology and communications stocks, with their pricey
values, tend to have an outsize influence on the market. The sectors are
responsible for much of the market volatility and the broad decline the major
indexes have seen since early April, as investors are concerned about the
impact of rising inflation on businesses and consumers.

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Retailers and companies that depend on direct consumer
spending also fell sharply. Amazon slid 4.3% and Target declined 3.9%.

Bond yields fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury
slipped to 2.75% from 2.86% late Monday.

The decline in bond yields weighed on banks, which charge
lucrative interest rates based on higher yields. Citigroup fell 1.9%.

Household goods companies and utilities, which are
considered safer than other sectors, made gains.

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Several concerns have pushed the benchmark S&P 500 to
the brink of a bear market, which is when an index falls 20% from its most
recent record high. It is down around 19% from its record high set earlier this
year.

Inflation has affected a wide range of industries due to
higher raw material and labour costs. Many businesses have been increasing
prices on everything from food to clothing to offset the impact of higher
costs, but the pressure has been increasing. Key retailers such as Target and
Walmart have said that higher costs are squeezing operations. Additionally,
consumers are tempering their spending on a variety of goods, they said.

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Consumers were already getting squeezed by a supply and
demand disconnect due to the Russia-Ukraine war and further jumps in energy
prices, including gasoline. Supply chain disruptions were worsened by China’s
recent lockdown in several major cities as it deals with rising COVID-19 cases.