U.S. stocks end sharply lower, Dow falls 2.6% amid oil plunge

U.S. stocks ended sharply lower on Tuesday, with Dow falling 2.6 percent as oil prices continued their unprecedented plunge, further denting market sentiment and dampening the global economic outlook.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 631.56 points, or more than 2.6 percent, to close at 23,018.88. Tuesday’s losses brought the Dow’s two-day fall to more than 1,200 points.

The S&P 500 plummeted 2.7 percent to 2,736.56 while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite slid 3.5 percent to 8,263.23.

The June contract for West Texas Intermediate (WTI) cratered 43.4 percent to $11.57 per barrel on Tuesday.