Wall Street sinks on rate worries as health care stocks and Tesla tumble

U.S. stocks are sinking Tuesday, as worries about interest rates staying high continue to hit Wall Street.

The S&P 500 was 0.9% lower in afternoon trading and on track for a second drop after setting an all-time high to close last week.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average also pulled further from its record and was down 481 points, or 1.2%. The Nasdaq composite was 1.2% lower, as of 1:55 p.m. ET.

Health insurance companies led the market lower on worries about their upcoming profits after the U.S. government announced lower-than-expected rates for Medicare Advantage.

Humana tumbled 14.2%.

Tesla, meanwhile, dropped 5% after delivering far fewer vehicles for the start of 2024 than analysts expected.

One of the big reasons the U.S. stock market has been on a nearly unstoppable run since late October is the expectation that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates several times this year.

Its hinted as much, and an easing of rates would relieve pressure on both the economy and financial system.

But Fed officials have also said they need further confirmation that inflation is heading sustainably down to their 2% target before acting.

A surprisingly strong report on U.S. manufacturing Monday, which showed a return to growth after 16 straight months of contraction, hurt those expectations.

Its the latest evidence of a remarkably resilient U.S. economy, but it could also add upward pressure on inflation.

Progress on inflation has become bumpier recently, with reports this year coming in hotter than expected.

Traders have already drastically reduced their expectations for how many times the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates this year, halving them from a forecast of six at the start of the year.

That would be in line with the three cuts that Fed officials themselves have hinted at.

After briefly shading some bets toward just two rate cuts this year, traders are still largely expecting three cuts in 2024, according to data from CME Group.

That follows report on Tuesday that showed U.S. employers were advertising roughly the same number of job openings in February as they were a month earlier and a stronger-than-expected gain in factory orders.

With the U.S. economy remaining stronger than expected, the chances are rising for just two rate cuts this year.

That has Gargi Chadhuri, chief investment and portfolio strategist, Americas, at BlackRock, suggesting investors keep their bets spread across a wide range of investments, rather than trying to time the market — or the Fed.

In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.36% from 4.33% late Monday.

The two-year yield, which moves more closely with expectations for Fed action, slipped to 4.69% from 4.71% late Monday.

High rates slow the economy by design, by making borrowing more expensive.

They also hurt prices for investments by making it more attractive for investors to put money instead in safer alternatives.

Bitcoin tumbled 6.3%.

Beyond worries about interest rates staying high, critics also say the U.S. stock market has simply gotten too expensive after soaring more than 20% in six months.

Companies will likely need to deliver strong growth in profits to justify such big moves.

On Wall Street, several health care stocks led the market lower as worries rose about their upcoming profits.

Analysts at Citi Research said the final Medicare Advantage rate approved by the government was well below expectations given higher-trending medical costs and a big lobbying push for the industry.

UnitedHealth Group fell 7.8%, and CVS Health lost 8.1%.

PVH, the company behind Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger, lost more than a fifth of its value despite reporting stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected.

Its forecast for profit this upcoming year fell short of analysts estimates, in part due to weakness in Europe, and its stock dropped 23.5%.

Among the few gainers on Wall Street were stocks of oil and gas producers. Exxon Mobil rose 1.4% and Marathon Petroleum rose 1.9%.

They followed the price of crude higher.

A barrel of benchmark U.S. oil rose 1.4% to $84.88 and is back to where it was in October.

A barrel of Brent crude, the international standard, climbed 1.4% to $88.63.

In Europe, stocks were falling 0.9% in Paris.

Germanys DAX lost 1.1%, and Londons FTSE 100 was 0.2% lower.

In Asia, indexes were mixed.

Hong Kongs Hang Seng jumped 2.4%, but moves were much more modest elsewhere.