Higher than expected wholesale inflation data and more worries about the health of financial firms sent stocks tumbling once again on Tuesday.
Tech stocks were led lower by Adobe Systems (NASDAQ: ADBE), which lost 3.4% on sales guidance that was potentially below Wall Street estimates.
But Mentor Graphics (NASDAQ: MENT) was a big winner, soaring 22% on a takeover offer from Cadence Design (NASDAQ: CDNS).
Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), Research in Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) and eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) were among the very few gainers on the Nasdaq most active list.
Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) tacked on 1.5% on an upbeat outlook from Goldman Sachs.
Alcatel Lucent (NYSE: ALU) rose 4% on a $1 billion deal with China Mobile.
Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) fell 5% after reporting a drop in earnings.
The Nasdaq fell 17 to 2457, the S&P lost 9 to 1350, and the Dow tumbled 108 to 12,160. Volume declined to 3.65 billion shares on the NYSE, and 1.84 billion on the Nasdaq. Decliners led by an 18-12 margin on the NYSE, and 18-10 on the Nasdaq. Downside volume was 65% on the NYSE, and 72% on the Nasdaq. New highs-new lows were 88-82 on the NYSE, and 68-153 on the Nasdaq.
