Stocks south of the border closed lower Tuesday, as a reversal in oil prices weighed and after weaker-than-expected Chinese trade data renewed concerns about global growth.
The Dow Jones Industrial average slid 109.85 points to 16,964.10, with Caterpillar the greatest decliner and Microsoft leading advancers.
Among transport stocks, JetBlue plunged more than 7% after announcing a 10 to 10.5% drop in February's preliminary revenue per available seat mile.
The S&P 500 docked 21.17 points to 1,980.59. Energy traded about 4% lower to lead S&P 500 decliners.
The NASDAQ index fell 59.43 points to 4,648.82
The bull market turns seven years old on Wednesday, and the S&P 500 has risen about 200% since it fell below 700 to hit a low on March 9, 2009, during the middle of the financial crisis.
China's exports fell 25.4% year-over-year in February, more than expected and the largest since May 2009. The trade surplus was at $32.59 billion U.S. in February, versus analysts' expectations of a $50.15-billion U.S. surplus.
Analysts largely attributed the sharp drop in the data to a slowdown in business activity around the early February Lunar New Year holidays. Exports for the first two months of the year were still down 17.8% and imports off 16.7% from the same period last year.
The data also showed China's February crude oil imports jumped 20% on year to their highest ever on a daily basis, driven by import quotas and stockpiling.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury gained sharply, lowering yields to 1.83% from Monday's 1.91%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices lost $1.65 a barrel to $36.25 U.S.
Gold prices fell $5.68 to $1,261.65 U.S. an ounce.
Source: Baystreet US Market Commentary
(March 8, 2016 - 7:01 PM EST)
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