Another Tech Stock Tumble Pulls U.S Indexes Sharply Lower

Technology stocks tumbled for the third day in a row Monday as a sharp reversal for some of Wall Street’s recent favorites worsened. Major U.S. indexes skidded.

Technology companies have done far better than the rest of the market in recent years, but they’ve fallen after Facebook and Twitter both reported weak user growth in the second quarter. Microsoft and Alphabet slumped Monday and Facebook, Twitter and Netflix have fallen at least 20 percent from their record highs earlier this month.

Elsewhere, energy companies climbed along with the price of crude oil but industrial companies like Caterpillar continued to lose ground. Meat producer Tyson became the latest company to cut its profit projections and point to tariffs.

The S&P 500 lost 16.22 points, or 0.6 percent, at 2,802.60, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 144.23 points, or 0.6 percent, to 25,306.83.

The Nasdaq composite has more technology stocks among its ranks, and it fell 107.41 points, or 1.4 percent, to 7,630. The Nasdaq has fallen at least 1 percent for three days in a row, which hadn’t happened in three years.

Smaller companies fared as badly as larger ones. The Russell 2000 index slid 10.21 points, or 0.6 percent, to 1,653.13.

Twitter dropped 8 percent to $31.38, extending its 20.5 percent plunge on Friday. Facebook fell another 2.2 percent to $171.06. Netflix, which reported weak subscriber growth in early July, fell 5.7 percent to $334.96.

Even with its recent tumble, the technology sector of the S&P 500 is up almost 26 percent over the last year. The S&P 500 itself is up a bit more than 13 percent over that time.

Energy companies climbed as the price of benchmark U.S. oil spurted higher by 2.1 percent to $70.13 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, rose 0.9 percent to $74.97 a barrel in London.

Wholesale gasoline lost 0.1 percent to $2.16 a gallon. Heating oil gained 0.7 percent to $2.17 a gallon. Natural gas rose 0.5 percent to $2.80 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Caterpillar surpassed Wall Street expectations in the second quarter and raised its forecasts for the year as the construction market remained strong. The company said new tariffs will cost it $100 million to $200 million this year, and it will make up for it by raising prices.

That initially encouraged investors, but Caterpillar gave up an early gain and fell 2 percent to $139.75.

Tyson cut its profit forecast because of rising tariffs and uncertainty about trade policies. The stock sank 7.6 percent to $58.72. Monday.

The Federal Reserve will begin a two-day meeting Tuesday.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.97 percent from 2.96 percent late Friday.

Gold slipped 0.1 percent to $1,231.50 an ounce. Silver rose 0.3 percent to $15.54 an ounce. Copper lost 0.4 percent to $2.79 a pound.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.7 percent, South Korea’s Kospi slipped 0.1 percent and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong lost 0.2 percent.

In Europe, France’s CAC 40 fell 0.4 percent, and the DAX in Germany dropped 0.5 percent. The FTSE 100 in London was virtually flat.

The dollar held steady at 111 Japanese yen. The euro rose to $1.1710 from $1.1656, and the British pound rose to $1.3135 from $1.3113.