Wall St falls on weak China data, lower oil

By Abhiram Nandakumar

(Reuters) - Wall Street was lower on Tuesday as oil prices tumbled and weak Chinese data rekindled fears of a global economic slowdown led by the world's second-biggest economy.

China's February trade performance was far worse than economists had expected, with exports tumbling the most in over six years. The report weighed on markets worldwide.

Oil prices fell nearly 3 percent in volatile trading.

"The data this morning has dampened sentiment more so than anything else at this point in terms of confirming some of the concerns regarding growth in China," said Ryan Larson, head of U.S. equity trading at RBC Global Asset Management in Chicago.

"Equities, at least in the United States, are somewhat taking their cues from oil pulling back slightly," Larson said.

Oil has made a strong recovery from its January lows, but Goldman Sachs analysts on Tuesday warned that the recent rally was premature as prices would need to remain lower to help rebalance the market later in the year.

The S&P energy sector led nine of the 10 major S&P sectors lower, with a more than 3 percent decline. Exxon and Chevron were off 1.5 percent each.

At 10:51 a.m. ET (1551 GMT), the Dow Jones industrial average was down 130.29 points, or 0.76 percent, at 16,943.66, the S&P 500 was down 20.69 points, or 1.03 percent, at 1,981.07 and the Nasdaq Composite index was down 48.47 points, or 1.03 percent, at 4,659.79.

Investors are also focusing on data for clues on the state of the global economy and monetary policies of central banks across the world.

The European Central Bank is expected to announce further stimulus at its meeting later this week.

In contrast, the U.S. Federal Reserve is looking to raise interest rates this year as a raft of data suggested the economic recovery in the United States was gaining momentum.

The positive sentiment helped the S&P 500 to its first five-day streak of gains since October and close above 2,000 for the first time since Jan. 5 on Monday.

Apple was the biggest drag on the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq, while Caterpillar weighed on the Dow.

Shares of Urban Outfitters were up 13.8 percent at $32.05, after the company reported better-than-expected sales for its bohemian-inspired Free People brand.

Shake Shack shed 9.5 percent, falling to $38.19 after the burger chain issued disappointing results and forecast.

AutoNation was down 6.7 percent at $49.34 after Goldman Sachs cut its rating on the stock to "sell".

Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by 2,279 to 581. On the Nasdaq, 1,951 issues fell and 652 advanced.

The S&P 500 index showed nine new 52-week highs and one low, while the Nasdaq recorded 23 new highs and 26 new lows.

(Reporting by Abhiram Nandakumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva)