Major US stock indexes dropped significantly on Tuesday due to losses in the industrial and technology sectors, as fears of a slowdown in global economic growth reappeared after the International Monetary Fund lowered its forecasts.

The updated IMF forecasts, presented on Monday, predict that the global economy will grow by 3.5% in 2019 and by 3.6% in 2020, which is 0.2 percentage points and 0.1 pp, respectively, below the estimates released last October. The reason for the decline in forecasts was the weakness of the European economy.

In addition, as it became known, home sales in the US fell to the lowest level in December for the last three years, and the growth in real estate prices slowed sharply, which indicates a further loss of momentum in the housing market. The National Association of Realtors said that sales of homes on the secondary market decreased by 6.4%, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.99 million units. This was the lowest level since November 2015. The pace of sales in November was slightly revised - to 5.33 million units from the previously reported 5.32 million units. Economists had forecast that home sales in the secondary housing market would fall by 1.0% in December, to 5.25 million units.

Oil prices fell by about 2% on Tuesday amid signs of a slowdown in China's growth, fueling concerns about global growth and fuel demand.

Almost all DOW components recorded a decline (28 out of 30). Caterpillar Inc. shares turned out to be an outsider. (CAT, -3.51%). The growth leader was McDonald's Corporation (MCD, + 0.72%).

All sectors of the S & P finished trading in the red. The largest decline was shown by the industrial goods sector (-2.4%)

At the time of closing:

Dow 24,404.48 -301.87 -1.22%

S & P 500 2,632.90 -37.81 -1.42%

Nasdaq 100 7,020.36 -136.87 -1.91%

U.S. stock-index futures rose on Tuesday amid investor fears of a global economic slowdown, which intensified after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) reported about a cut in its world economic growth forecasts for 2019 and 2020.

Global Stocks:

(company / ticker / price / change ($/%) / volume)

Altria (MO) downgraded to Underweight from Equal-Weight at Morgan Stanley

NIKE (NKE) upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Cowen

Travelers (TRV) reported Q4 FY 2018 earnings of $2.13 per share (versus $2.28 in Q4 FY 2017), missing analysts’ consensus estimate of $2.23.

The company’s quarterly revenues amounted to $6.945 bln (+4.8% y/y), generally in line with analysts’ consensus estimate of $6.922 bln.

TRV closed Friday's trading session at $124.01 (+0.87%).

Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) reported Q4 FY 2018 earnings of $1.97 per share (versus $1.74 in Q4 FY 2017), beating analysts’ consensus estimate of $1.95.

The company’s quarterly revenues amounted to $20.394 bln (+1.0% y/y), generally in line with analysts’ consensus estimate of $20.267 bln.

The company also issued guidance for FY 2019, projecting EPS of $8.50-8.65 (versus analysts’ consensus estimate of $8.60) and revenues of $80.4-81.2 bln (versus analysts’ consensus estimate of $82.74 bln).

JNJ rose to $131.70 (+0.77%) in pre-market trading.

January 22

Before the Open:

Johnson & Johnson (JNJ). Consensus EPS $1.95, Consensus Revenues $20267.28 mln.

Travelers (TRV). Consensus EPS $2.23, Consensus Revenues $6922.41 mln.

After the Close:

IBM (IBM). Consensus EPS $4.82, Consensus Revenues $21792.78 mln.

January 23

Before the Open:

Procter & Gamble (PG). Consensus EPS $1.21, Consensus Revenues $17159.21 mln.

United Tech (UTX). Consensus EPS $1.53, Consensus Revenues $16856.20 mln.

After the Close:

Ford Motor (F). Consensus EPS $0.30, Consensus Revenues $36833.70 mln.

January 24

Before the Open:

Freeport-McMoRan (FCX). Consensus EPS $0.19, Consensus Revenues $3875.25 mln.

After the Close:

Intel (INTC). Consensus EPS $1.23, Consensus Revenues $19015.03 mln.

Starbucks (SBUX). Consensus EPS $0.65, Consensus Revenues $6485.46 mln.