Stocks are sliding

In afternoon trade on Tuesday, the Dow was down 90 points, the S&P 500 was down 9 points, and the Nasdaq was down 11 points.

Stocks opened the session roughly unchanged and were drifting for most of the day before taking a bit of a leg lower Tuesday afternoon.

Bonds, in contrast, were rallying, with the 10-year yield falling to around 1.86% and the 30-year yield falling to 2.45%.

Tuesday morning saw a rash of economic data cross the wires. Inflation data showed that prices were flat in February, while new home sales crushed expectations - rising 7.8% against expectations for a 3.5% decline - and manufacturing activity picked up in March.

In stock news, Google announced that Morgan Stanley CFO Ruth Porat would join the tech giant in the same role. Whiting Petroleum shares were down as much as 20% after the shale oil company announced a debt and equity offering on Monday night.

Tech company Sonus also saw shares fall as much as 30% after slashing its guidance in a statement on Tuesday morning.