Italy turmoil sends stocks down

Stocks in the U.S. and Europe sank Tuesday following political turmoil in Italy, which stoked fears of instability in the euro bloc.

Investors sold stocks and prices for U.S. government bonds surged as investors shifted money into lowerrisk investments. Bond yields dropped, and with them, interest rates on mortgages and other kinds of loans. Banks plunged as Wall Street expected they would earn thinner profits.

Major exporters like technology and industrial companies and big drug and medical device makers also skidded. Those companies depend on strong sales outside the U.S.

Investors dumped Italian government bonds, driving borrowing costs sharply higher for that country and rekindling fears of more financial strain for Europe's third-largest economy. They bought German and British government bonds instead, which are seen as more stable.

The political upheaval in Italy is likely to lead to new elections in the next few months, and investors are interpreting the new vote as a referendum and that Italy could move closer to abandoning the currency if populist parties win the election. It's not clear if that would happen, but if it did, it would have major implications for the European financial system and its economy.

New jitters about the stability of the euro sent the currency's value against the dollar to its lowest level in almost a year. The dollar rose to 108.24 yen from 109.37 yen. The euro sank to $1.1531, its lowest since July, from $1.1669.

The S&P 500 index sank 31.47 points, or 1.2 percent, to 2,689.86. The Dow Jones industrial average turned negative for the year as it lost 391.64 points, or 1.6 percent, to 24,361.45. It was down as much as 505 earlier. In Europe, Italy's benchmark stock index plunged 2.7 percent.

Smaller U.S. companies, which tend to be more domestically focused than the large multinationals in the Dow, fared much better than the rest of the market. The Russell 2000 index fell far less than the Dow average, giving up 3.28 points, or 0.2 percent, to 1,623.65.