Dow Plunges with Energy Stocks

U.S. stocks traded lower Tuesday amid a continued decline in oil prices and softness in China trade data.

The Dow Jones industrial average stumbled 173.34 points, or 1%, to 17,557.17, with Chevron and Exxon Mobil together contributing the most to losses.

The S&P 500 shed 19.23 points to 2,057.84. Energy plunged more than 2.5% to lead all S&P 500 sectors lower. The index struggled to hold in positive territory for the year after turning red for the year in opening trade.

The NASDAQ index dwindled 33.09 points to 5,068.72. The NASDAQ was the only major index solidly positive for the year so far.

Qualcomm fell 4% after European Union anti-trust regulators charged the firm with abusing its market power to thwart rivals, putting the world's number one mobile chipset maker at risk of a hefty fine.

The chip maker also said the Taiwan Fair Trade Commission opened an investigation into its patent licensing deals.

Apple traded more than 1% lower, while biotech stocks attempted gains.

In U.S. economic news, the Job Openings and Labour Turnover Survey – JOLTS, for short -- showed 5.383 million openings in October, while the September figure was revised slightly higher to 5.534 million. The quits rate held steady from September at 1.9%.

Overseas, Chinese trade data released overnight showed exports declined for the fifth-straight month and imports down a record 13 months. However, the decline in imports was less than expected and slowed from last month. The drop in both imports and exports add to concerns about global growth and a tepid domestic demand-driven recovery.

Reuters noted that China crude oil imports for the first 11 months of the year rose 8.7% to 6.61 million barrels per day, with November crude imports growing 7.6% from the same month a year ago. The news helped oil briefly attempt gains in early morning trade.

Prices for the 10-year Treasury gained slightly, lowering yields to 2.23% from Monday's 2.24%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

Oil prices let go of 54 cents a barrel to $37.11 U.S.

Gold prices picked up $1.52 to $1,072.86 U.S. an ounce.