Dow tumbles 257 points as spike in COVID-19 cases spurs economic-recovery concern

• The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average suffered their second straight losses on Tuesday.
• COVID-19 cases worldwide have risen by more than 10% over the past week.
• Nike dropped on the Dow but IBM was a winner.

US stocks dropped Tuesday, with their grip on record highs further loosening as investors worry about the prospects for global economic growth as COVID-19 cases worldwide increase.

The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average each fell for a second consecutive session, pulling back from last week's strongest finishes on record.

As "stocks fall on back-to-back days for the first time this month, you can probably blame an old culprit: COVID," said JJ Kinahan, chief market strategist at TD Ameritrade, in comments sent to Insider.

Here's where US indexes stood at 4 p.m. on Tuesday:

• S&P 500: 4,134.96, down 0.68%
• Dow Jones Industrial Average: 33,820.51, down 0.75% (257.12 points)
• Nasdaq Composite: 13,786.27, down 0.92%

Cumulative coronavirus cases worldwide have risen by more than 10% over the past week, according to data from Johns Hopkins University, and cases topped 142.3 million on Tuesday. Officials in Japan were considering declaring a virus state of emergency, and the UK imposed a travel ban for visitors from India as that country becomes the new epicenter of the outbreak behind the US. Argentina, meanwhile, is battling another wave of cases.

"Higher-than-expected earnings might not be packing as big a punch as normal, partly because analysts had been raising their earnings estimates before earnings season began," Kinahan said. "At this point, it's really more about what companies forecast and less about what happened in Q1."

IBM shares rose and performed the best among the Dow industrials after the technology company's first-quarter earnings and revenue beat Wall Street's targets. But fellow Dow component Nike dropped sharply following a Citi downgrade to neutral from buy on concerns that recent boycotts in China will hurt sales at the athletic wear maker.

Apple shares were lower. The company at its virtual event on Tuesday unveiled, among other products, its AirTags tracking accessory.

Around the markets, Johnson & Johnson shares rose after the company planned to resume COVID-19 vaccine shipments to the European Union.

GameStop stake held by Alaska's revenue department soared by more than 700% last quarter. Alaska also said its Tesla bet had grown to $85 million in 18 months.

Bitfarms, a Canadian bitcoin-mining company, is planning a new mining site in Argentina that it said would be its largest yet.

Gold rose 0.3%, to $1,776 per ounce. Long-dated US Treasury yields fell, with the 10-year yield down to 1.56%.

Oil prices rose. West Texas Intermediate crude lost 1.2% to $62.61 per barrel. Brent crude, oil's international benchmark, fell 1%, to $66.51 per barrel.

Bitcoin rose to $56,524.