Wall St lower as weak China data spooks investors

By Abhiram Nandakumar

(Reuters) - Wall Street was lower on Tuesday after 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 data weighed on markets worldwide.

"(The China data) suggests the fragile nature of the market's psychology right now," said Scott Brown, chief economist at Raymond James in St. Petersburg, Florida.

"People are still very much nervous. You are now starting to get a bit of a debate about whether things have gotten overdone," he said.

Crude prices shed their gains and were down about 2 percent.

Oil has recovered from the 2016 low touched in January, but Goldman Sachs analysts on Tuesday said the recent rally was premature as prices would need to remain lower to help rebalance the market later in the year.

The S&P materials and energy sector led all 10 major S&P sectors lower, with a more than 1 percent decline each.

At 9:39 a.m. ET (1439 GMT), the Dow Jones industrial average was down 84.02 points, or 0.49 percent, at 16,989.93, the S&P 500 was down 13.35 points, or 0.67 percent, at 1,988.41 and the Nasdaq Composite index was down 35.30 points, or 0.75 percent, at 4,672.95.

Investors are 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 Goldman Sachs weighed on the Dow.

Shares of Urban Outfitters were up 11 percent at $31.28, after the company reported better-than-expected sales for its bohemian-inspired Free People brand.

Shake Shack shed 10 percent to $37.86 after the burger chain issued disappointing results and forecast.

Dick's Sporting Goods was down 3.5 percent at $42.86 after the company forecast first-quarter profit below estimates.

AutoNation was down 3.2 percent at $51.14 after Goldman Sachs cut its rating on the stock to "sell".

Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by 1,973 to 665. On the Nasdaq, 1,607 issues fell and 602 advanced.

The S&P 500 index showed six new 52-week highs and one new low, while the Nasdaq recorded 18 new highs and 13 new lows.

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