U.S. stocks are slumping Tuesday following a disappointingly weak start to a week full of updates on the economy.
The S&P 500 was 1.9%, or 108 points, lower in afternoon trading and on track for its worst day in nearly a month, coming off a winning week that had carried it to the cusp of its all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 560 points, or 1.4%, from its own record set on Friday before Monday’s Labor Day holiday. The Nasdaq composite was 3.1% lower, as of 2:45 a.m. Eastern time.
Treasury yields were also sinking in the bond market after a report showed U.S. manufacturing shrank again in August, as it continues to wilt under the weight of high interest rates. Manufacturing has been contracting for most of the past two years, and its performance for August was worse than economists expected.
“Demand remains subdued, as companies …