US stocks drop on eurozone worries

NEW YORK: Turmoil in the eurozone and a clutch of disappointing earnings reports sent US markets tumbling Tuesday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gave up almost 200 points at one point during the session, but a late buying rally reversed course to minimize the day's loss.

The Dow closed off 76.44 points (0.59 per cent) at 12,932.09, while the broader SandP 500 fell 5.86 (0.43 per cent) to 1,363.72.

The tech-rich Nasdaq dropped 11.49 (0.39 per cent) to 2,946.27.

Losses were spread broadly, with little in the way of domestic US news to overshadow worries that parties opposed to conditions of the 130 billion euro (US$169 billion) IMF-EU bailout for Greece might take power in Greece.

The markets were "pressured by some disappointing reports from the domestic equity front... exacerbating early uneasiness stemming from resurfacing eurozone debt crisis concerns," said analysts at Charles Schwab and Co.

McDonald's April sales growth reports for its popular burger outlets came in below general expectations, pushing its share price down 2.1 per cent.

Casino operator Wynn Resorts was down 4.8 per cent after it missed expectations on per-share earnings for the first quarter.

Gamemaker Electronic Arts lost 4.3 per cent after handing analysts a weaker-than-expected earnings outlook and revealing a sharp fall in subscribers to its multiplayer game "Star Wars: The Old Republic".

Fashion house Fossil plunged 37.6 per cent after reporting poor first-quarter sales, mainly due to the sagging European market, and issuing a disappointing forecast for the second quarter. -- AFP