Wall Street pulled lower by GE, energy shares

U.S. stock indexes were lower on Tuesday after GE plunged for the second straight day and a drop in oil prices hit energy stocks.

The industrial conglomerate was on track to record its worst two-day fall since 2009 after its new chief executive on Monday outlined steps to turn it into a smaller, more focused company, surprising some investors.

Oil prices dipped more than 2 percent as bullish factors such as ongoing OPEC-led production cuts and Middle East tensions were countered by rising U.S. output.

Exxon slipped 0.4 percent, while ConocoPhillips was down 2 percent, weighing the most on the energy sector.

With the quarterly earnings season winding down, the market has taken a breather after its rally to record highs last week.

"There are no catalysts at the moment, while there are concerns that the Fed is going to get more ammunition to move higher with the rates," said Jeff Zipper, managing director for investments at Private Client Reserve at U.S. Bank in Palm Beach, Florida.

"Flattening yield curve is certainly a concern for the market. It is not convinced that we`re going to get the growth that we need to steepen the yield curve."

A tightening gap between short- and long-term U.S. government bond yields suggests the Federal Reserve may be in danger of hiking rates too much and killing longer term inflation and growth.

Investors are also waiting for any signs of compromise on U.S. tax policy after Senate Republicans unveiled a plan last week that would cut corporate taxes a year later than a rival House of Representatives` bill.

At 10:43 a.m. ET (1443 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 101.54 points, or 0.43 percent, at 23,338.16, the S&P 500 was down 9.04 points, or 0.35 percent, at 2,575.8 and the Nasdaq Composite was down 20.46 points, or 0.3 percent, at 6,737.14.

Nine of the 11 major S&P sectors were lower, led by losses in energy and materials index. The utility sector was the only big gainer.

Shares in Home Depot held steady, while those in off-price retailer TJX dipped after quarterly reports that bore the impact of a violent U.S. hurricane season.

Buffalo Wild Wings surged 24 percent after a report that the restaurant chain had received a takeover bid at about $2.3 billion from private equity Roark Capital Group.

Advance Auto Parts soared 20 percent after the auto parts retailer affirmed full-year profit forecast and beat quarterly profit estimates.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers on the NYSE by 1,808 to 966. On the Nasdaq, 1,630 issues fell and 1,047 advanced.

(This article has not been edited by Zeebiz editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)