Investing.com - U.S. stocks finished Tuesday lower after financial services giant AIG reported a 27% drop in first-quarter profits, while Twitter shares plummeted after a lockup ended earlier and freed up investors to sell their shares.
At the close of U.S. trading, the Dow 30 fell 0.77%, the S&P 500 index fell 0.88%, while the NASDAQ Composite index fell 1.36%.
Insurance giant American International Group Inc (NYSE:AIG) reported that first-quarter net income fell to $1.6 billion, or $1.09 a share, from $2.2 billion, or $1.49 a share, in the year-earlier quarter, mainly due rising insurance claims and a decline in premiums at its core property-casualty unit.
The disappointing numbers weighed on the broader financial services sector, while the technology space saw some black eyes as well.
Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) shares, meanwhile, plunged by 18% after a six-month lock-up period expired on Tuesday for early investors that had restricted the sale of roughly 82% of the company's stock.
Meanwhile on the macroeconomic front, data revealed that the country's trade deficit narrowed to $40.38 billion in March from $41.87 billion in February, whose figure was revised from a previously estimated deficit of $42.30 billion.
Analysts were expecting the trade deficit to narrow to $40.30 billion in March.
Leading Dow Jones Industrial Average performers included Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC), up 0.17%, Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ), up 0.12%, and UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH), up 0.05%.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average's worst performers included Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK), down 2.58%, Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE), down 1.75%, and J P Morgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM), down 1.65%.
European indices, meanwhile, finished lower.
After the close of European trade, the DJ Euro Stoxx 50 fell 0.68%, France's CAC 40 fell 0.78%, while Germany's DAX fell 0.65%. Meanwhile, in the U.K. the FTSE 100 fell 0.35%.