Wall Street stocks lost ground on Tuesday as investors worried that persistently strong inflation may reduce corporate profitability.

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The S&P 500 lost 0.8%, while the Nasdaq sank 2.3%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.2%, owing mostly to strong advances by McDonald’s and UnitedHealth.

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Major technology and communications firms weighed on the broader market, but some of the selling had subsided by late afternoon.

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A harsh earnings warning from Snapchat’s parent firm scared investors into selling major social media companies’ stocks. Snap fell 43.1%, its worst single-day decline ever, while Facebook’s parent company, Meta, fell 7.6%. Google’s parent company plummeted 5.1%.

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The S&P 500 fell 32.27 points to 3,941.48. The Dow gained 48.38 points to 31,928.62, and the Nasdaq slid 270.83 points to 11,264.45.

Smaller company stocks also fell. The Russell 2000 dropped 27.94 points, or 1.6%, to 1,764.83.

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The pile of concerns weighing on the market has 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 roughly 18% from its record high set earlier this year.

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Retailers and companies that rely on direct consumer spending were among the big decliners Tuesday. Amazon slid 3.2% and Target fell 2.6%.

Bond yields fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 2.76% from 2.86% late Monday.

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Falling bond yields weighed on banks, which rely on higher yields to charge more lucrative interest on loans. Wells Fargo fell 1.2%.

Homebuilders slumped following a government report showing that sales of newly built homes fell far short of economists’ forecasts. KB Home fell 2.7%.

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Cruise lines and other travel-ralate companies took some of the heaviest losses. Carnival slid 10.3% and Norwegian Cruise Line fell 12%.

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Household goods companies and utilities, which are considered less risky than other sectors, made gains. Campbell Soup rose 3.5% and Duke Energy closed 2% higher.