U.S. Stocks Slide as Tech, Health Shares Decline for Second Day

(Bloomberg) -- U.S. equities were lower Tuesday as investors parsed over economic data and watched the Republican debate over their party’s health-care bill.

The S&P 500 lost 0.2 percent at 9:50 a.m. in New York as the Dow Jones shaved 21 points to 21,388.

• Financial shares up 0.5% for best advance in early trading
• Tech shares down 0.6%
  • Alphabet Inc. slid 1.1 percent after Google got a record fine of 2.4 billion euros ($2.7 billion) from European Union regulators for skewing search results in its own favor to boost its shopping search service
• Utilities, staples and phone shares lower
• 10-year Treasury yield up 5bps
• VIX up to 10.2
• POLITICS:
  • At least three Republican senators said they would vote to block the current version of their party’s health-care bill from advancing
• ECONOMY:
  • Investors are awaiting comments by Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen this week, with March 2018 the first month for which traders are pricing in at least even odds of a rate increase
• EARNINGS:
  • Pre-market Wednesday: Monsanto Co (MON), Paychex Inc. (PAYX), General Mills Inc. (GIS)

For more equity market news:

• Markets Have Nothing Left to Fear But Fearlessness Itself
• Sector Volatility Rises Even as VIX Set for Monthly Drop: Chart

To contact the reporter on this story: Oliver Renick in New York at orenick2@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Chris Nagi at chrisnagi@bloomberg.net, Sebastian Silva