Wall Street falls as energy continues slide

By Ryan Vlastelica

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks fell in a broad decline on Tuesday, with energy shares leading the selloff as crude prices declined for a fourth straight day, raising concerns about global demand.

U.S. crude oil fell 2.9 percent to $76.46 per barrel, dropping to its lowest level in about three years after Saudi Arabia cut sales prices to the United States. Crude is down more than 30 percent from a recent closing peak and down 7 percent over the past four sessions.

While the broader market has risen this year, energy has lagged. The S&P energy index fell 2.1 percent on Tuesday, and it is the only one of the ten primary sectors to be negative on the year.

The Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF fell 2.3 percent to $84.09, while Chevron Corp fell 1.3 percent to $115.32.

The decline in oil "has an immediate effect on the energy sector, of course, but it also has implications for the broader market, reflecting a lack of demand," said John Kosar, director of research with Asbury Research in Chicago. "With the market at record highs, you'd like to see oil do better since demand for oil indicates the economy is humming along."

While energy was by far the weakest sector of the day, the day's losses were spread across sectors. Of the 10 primary S&P 500 sectors, only consumer staples and industrials were in positive territory.

Alibaba Group Holding rose 2.3 percent to $104.15 on massive volume after the Chinese e-commerce giant reported its first quarterly results as a public company, posting revenue growth of 53.7 percent. The company is one of the largest in the world, but its rise did not directly translate to major indexes as it is not a component of the Dow or S&P 500 and it is not traded on the Nasdaq.

Priceline Group Inc fell 9.2 percent to $1,088.74 after reporting results. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc lost 6.2 percent to $370.73 after cutting the top end of its full-year sales outlook for its blockbuster eye drug.

The market's recent rally, which took both the Dow and S&P 500 to intraday records on Monday, has largely come on strong corporate financial results, which have eased concerns about economic growth. With results in from 78 percent of companies, 76 percent have beaten analysts' expectations, according to Thomson Reuters data, above the long-term average of 63 percent.

At 12:10 p.m. (1710 GMT) the Dow Jones industrial average fell 13.5 points, or 0.08 percent, to 17,352.74, the S&P 500 lost 9.67 points, or 0.48 percent, to 2,008.14 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 30.50 points, or 0.66 percent, to 4,608.41.

Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by 1,953 to 1,020, for a 1.91-to-1 ratio on the downside; on the Nasdaq, 1,620 issues fell and 947 advanced for a 1.71-to-1 ratio.

The S&P 500 was posting 68 new 52-week highs and 5 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite was recording 65 new highs and 35 new lows.

(Editing by Nick Zieminski)