Slides in tech, retail, oil prices send markets into tailspin

Stocks were NEW YORK — skidding Tuesday as weak results from retailers and mounting losses for big tech- nology companies push the market back into the red for the year.

Energy companies are slumping because of a 7 per- cent plunge in the price of oil. Crude is on track for its biggest loss in three years. Industrial companies are also dropping as the downward momentum in stocks builds after steep losses Monday.

The S&P 500 index lost 38 points, or 1.4 percent, to 2,652 as of 1:15 p.m. Eastern time. The benchmark index has fallen 9.5 percent from its record high two months ago.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average sank 505 points, or 2 percent, to 24,513. It was down as much as 596 earlier.

Investors lately have been quick to bail out of companies that show rising costs are eating into profits, and that was the case with retail- ers Tuesday. Target plunged after reporting earnings that missed Wall Street’s estimates due to higher expenses. Ross Stores, TJX and Kohl’s also fell on dis- appointing forecasts.

Technology companies slid after the Trump administration proposed new national security regulations that could limit exports of hightech products in fields such as quantum computing, machine learning, object recognition and artificial intelligence.

Katie Nixon, the chief investment officer for Northern Trust Wealth Management, said investors have been selling tech stocks because of signs that trade tensions between the U.S. and China are getting worse instead of improving.