By Yasin Ebrahim

Investing.com – The S&P 500 fell Tuesday, as tech led a sharp selloff just hours before Microsoft and Google are set to kickoff quarterly results for big tech.

They fell by 2.1% and 1.9% respectively, 648 points. The slipped 3.0%

Microsoft  (NASDAQ:) and Google-parent Alphabet (NASDAQ:)fell more than 2% ahead of their quarterly results as investors aren’t showing any willingness to stick around to find out whether earnings from big tech will help steady broader market

Apple (NASDAQ:), Meta, formerly Facebook (NASDAQ:) were also nursing losses intraday, while Amazon (NASDAQ:{{Meta (NASDAQ :), Apple (NASDAQ :), and Meta (NASDAQ 🙂 also experienced intraday losses. Amazon, however, was down over 3%.|AMZN led the decline, down more than 3%.

As investors value the possibility of disruptions in supply chains following a spike in Covid-19 in China, chip stocks have also contributed to the sector’s weakness.

The mass testing in Beijing following an increase in cases has stoked fears that China’s capital could face Shanghai-style lockdown.

The prospect of slower global growth was a factor in Treasury yields as they continued to trade the possibility of lower rates of return at a moment when tensions between Russia and Ukraine are intensifying.

Sergey Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, stated that the U.S. will continue providing weapons to Ukraine if it and its allies do not stop. This could lead to a wider conflict with NATO countries.

Apart from the tech disaster, the financial selloff was also caused by the decline of regional banks and weaker quarterly results.

Zions Bancorporation fell over 8% following Raymond James’ downgrading of the stock from market perform to underperform. The bank had reported revenue for the first quarter that was below estimates.

General Electric (NYSE:), a major Dow component, slumped more than 10% after conglomerate’s cautious tone on guidance overshadowed first-quarter results that beat on both the top and bottom lines.  

Lawrence Culp is chief executive at GE. Culp cites inflation pressures, war in Ukraine and a “trend toward the lower end” of the guidance it provided in January.

The quarterly results of 3M (NYSE 🙂 were better than expected, however they warned about rising costs and weaker mask demand ahead. This could limit growth. Close to 3% of its shares declined.

Oil prices rose above $100/barrel as demand concerns eased after China announced that it would support economic growth as another recession looms.

Investors are not impressed with the wave of earnings thus far, as inflation has changed from a tailwind in stocks to a headingwind. It is lowering expectations regarding future earnings.

“Earnings revisions breadth for the S&P 500 has resumed its downtrend over the past 2 weeks and is once again approaching negative territory (which would mean more downward than upward out-year EPS revisions),” Morgan Stanley Mike Wilson, chief equity strategist at NYSE: wrote a Monday note.