S&P 500 books fourth straight day of losses as U.S. stocks close sharply lower

U.S. stocks ended sharply lower Tuesday, with the S&P 500 falling for a fourth straight day, as investors sought safe-haven assets amid recession concerns and increased market volatility. The Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
-1.03%
dropped around 350 points to close 1% lower, while the S&P 500 fell
SPX,
-1.44%
1.4% and the Nasdaq Composite
COMP,
-2.00%
sank 2%, according to preliminary data from FactSet. Energy was the hardest hit sector of the S&P 500, followed by communication-services, information-technology and consumer-discretionary shares, FactSet data show. Utilities, a defensive area of the stock market, was the sole sector of the S&P 500 to finish with gains, rising around 0.7%. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note, a safe haven asset, fell 8.6 basis points to 3.512%, according to Dow Jones Market Data. Treasury yields and prices move in opposite directions.