Dow down 280 points, with tech shares under heavy pressure

Dow down 280 points, with tech shares under heavy pressure

Stocks fell in early trading Tuesday, led lower by heavy losses for tech-related shares, a day after the S&P 500 index and the Dow Jones Industrial Average put in a strong start to May, pushing the equity benchmarks near records.

Investors will watch for comments from Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who will be making two appearances, including a live-streamed interview hosted by The Wall Street Journal, as they assess earnings from Pfizer and CVS.

How are stock benchmarks performing?

On Monday, the Dow advanced 238.38 points, or 0.7%, ending at 34,113.23, its third-highest close in history; the S&P 500 added 11.49 points, or 0.3%, to close at 4,192.66, its second-highest finish ever; while the Nasdaq Composite fell 67.56 points, or 0.5%, finishing at 13,895.12, as it posted back-to-back declines.

What’s driving the market?

Tech-related shares were leading the move to the downside, with heavyweights Tesla Inc.

TSLA, -3.06%,

Amazon.com Inc.

AMZN, -2.36%,

and Google parent Alphabet Inc.

GOOG, -3.17%