Stocks Opened Lower as Oil Plunged

U.S. stocks opened lower on Tuesday as a second-straight day of big losses in oil and global equity markets weighed on sentiment. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lately fell 258.94 points, or 1.57%, to 16,190.24. The S&P 500 dropped 28.34 points, or 1.46%, to 1,911.04. The Nasdaq Composite was down 57.76 points, or 1.25%, to 4,562.61.

Oil fell around 4 percent on Tuesday, dented by worries about the demand outlook and rising supply. Brent for April delivery was down $1.32 at $32.92 a barrel by 8.15 a.m. ET a fall. The front-month contract for U.S. West Texas Intermediate was down 80 cents at $30.82 after falling $2.00, or 5.9 percent, the session before.

Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N) on Tuesday reported its smallest quarterly profit in more than a decade and said it will cut 2015 spending by one-quarter and suspend share repurchases as it copes with a prolonged downturn in crude prices. Fourth-quarter profit tumbled to $2.78 billion, or 67 cents per share, from $6.57 billion, or $1.56 per share, in the same period a year earlier.

Swiss bank UBS saw its shares slide on Tuesday on news that investors were pulling money out of its division serving wealthy clients — a token of the market turbulence that has shaken the world in the past few months.

Michael Kors Holdings Ltd. (KORS),the luxury accessories company, reported fiscal third-quarter profit and sales that beat expectations. Earnings declined to $294.6 million, or $1.59 a share, from $303.7 million, or $1.48 a share, in the same period a year ago.