Nasdaq tumbles 2% as inflation fears continue tech-fueled market sell-off

• The Nasdaq fell 2% on Tuesday as inflation fears continued to rattle the technology sector.
• Concerns over rising prices hit high-flying tech stocks on Monday and Tuesday, with Tesla down 13% since the start of the week.
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US tech stocks continued their decline on Tuesday as fears of rising inflation persisted among investors. The Nasdaq fell more than 2% on Tuesday, adding on to its Monday decline of 2.55%.

Fueling the surge in inflation expectations has been the actual surge in commodity prices, such as lumber, oil, and copper.

This week's stock market decline hit high-flying tech stocks the most, with shares of Tesla down as much as 13% since the start of the week. Cathie Wood's ARK Invest flagship ETF was also being sold heavily by investors, as it fell 10% since Monday.

Here's where US indexes stood at the 9:30 a.m. ET open on Tuesday:

• S&P 500: 4,140.71, down 1.14%
• Dow Jones industrial average: 34,462.38, down 0.81% (280.44 points)
• Nasdaq composite: 13,150.79, 1.86%

Virgin Galactic, the pre-revenue space tourism company that seeks to launch paying customers into space, fell as much as 21% after its first-quarter earnings report revealed an uncertain flight schedule as it deals with maintenance issues for its spaceship.

Palantir fell as much as 9% after its first-quarter earnings report failed to impress investors. And decline auto sales in China for Tesla led to a sharp decline in the stock on Tuesday.

The price of dogecoin briefly surged as much as 20% after Tesla CEO Elon Musk ran a poll on Twitter to see if the electric vehicle manufacturer should accept the meme-inspired cryptocurrency as a form of payment. Tesla currently accepts bitcoin as payment for its products.

Oil prices were lower. West Texas Intermediate crude fell 1.4%, to $63.99 per barrel. Brent crude, oil's international benchmark, dropped by 1.3%, to $67.42 per barrel.

Gold fell 0.7%, to $1,825.90 per ounce.