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US markets fell in line with slumping oil prices on Tuesday as investors mulled the ramifications of the results of the first Presidential candidate primaries.
Donald Trump surprisingly lost out to Ted Cruz on the Republican side as the Christian vote weighed in heavily for the Texas senator while Hillary Clinton squeaked home against septuagenarian rival Bernie Sanders.
The Dow Jones finished 1.6% or 260 points lower at 16189 while the S&P fell 29 points (1.5%) to 1911. The Nasdaq Composite shored up by 4.4% gains for Google-owner Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) fared a little better falling 1.2% (56 points) to 4564.
Crude oil prices briefly dipped below US$30 a barrel and the fuel sector suffered from sharp hits in earnings atBPandExxon Mobil.
BP(LON:BP NYSE:BP) recorded a 51% drop in annual profits to US$5.9 bn in 2015 whileExxon Mobil(NYSE:XOM) endured the fallout of a 58% drop in fourth quarter 2015 profits to US$2.78.Exxon Mobilfinished at around US$74.50 down US$1.79 or 2.35%.
West Texas Intermediate a leading gauge of oil prices managed to pick up from sub-US$30 levels and was down 5% at US$30.02 near the close of Wall Street trading.
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The Dow Jones and broader S&P500 tickers fell back on Tuesday as oil prices continued to sag while the Nasdaq Composite led the downside among indexes with a loss of over 2% as overnight gains in Google parent Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG)on its earnings report pared.
US crude prices bled 5% with West Texas Intermediate down 4.97% at US$30.05.
The Dow Jones Industrial was down 1.9% or 306.02 at16143.16. The S&P500 was down 1.91% or 36.95 at1902.43. The Nasdaq meanwhile was down 2.1% at4525.00.
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US stocks dived onTuesday Morningfollowing the trend of global indices as another slide in the oil price took its toll.
The West Texas Intermediate price spilled 5.3% to US$30.01 while a barrel of Brent crude lost 5.6% to US$32.41.
Unsurprisingly big oil stocks dragged down the Dow Jones with index down more than 240 points to 16205. The Nasdaq more than 40 points lower or 1%to 4576 and S&P500 down 1.2% or 24 points to 1915 were also hit.
Chevron(NYSE:CVX) was at the bottom of the index losing more than 3.2% to US$82.55 whileExxon MobilCorp (NYSE:XOM) fell 2.5% to US$74.37.
Away from the beleaguered oil stocks The group behindGoogle(NASDAQ:GOOG) has swiped the crown from tech giantApple(NASDAQ:AAPL) as the world's most valuable company following fourth quarter earnings.
The search engine's holding company Alphabet is now worth about US$568bn against the maker of the iPhone which is valued at US$535bn following a rise in its shares this week.
Alphabet seems to have consolidated its position on Tuesday with the search engine giant up 4% to US$782 whileAppleeased just shy of 1% to US$95.54.
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Wall Street shares are set to sink at the open as global indices fall and oil prices slide again.
Meanwhile on the corporate front today the big news isGoogle(NASDAQ:GOOG) as its parent Alphabet issued its fourth quarter earnings after hours showing it was now more valuable than tech giantApple(LON:AAPL).
Traders also have half an eye on the results of the Iowa election last night where Texas senator Ted Cruz beat Donald Trump to win the Iowa Republican caucus which is the first vote in selecting presidential candidates.
The benchmark Dow Jones closed Monday down 17 points at 16449 while the broader based S&P500 finished down almost flat at 1939 while the tech heavy Nasdaq added around six to 4620.
In futures trading the Dow Jones is down 120 points while the S&P500 is down 15 and the Nasdaq furtures shed around 41 points.
In London FTSE100 is down below 6000 at the time of writing down 108 points. In Asia overnight the Shanghai Composite Index added 61 while the Nikkei 225 lost 114.
Oil prices are sliding again with US crude - West Texas Intermediate down 2.75% at US$30.73 a barrel hovering near the US$30 level..
Alphabet surged over 5.5% in after hours deals to US$752 after telling investors of a profit of US$4.9bn in the quarter up from US$4.7bn a year earlier.
An increase in online advertising onGooglehelped the company rack up annual profits of US$16.3bn although its Other Bets business lost US$3.6bn during the period.
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