Dow plunges AGAIN: US Index drops 150 points to post worst two-day loss in three months

It means the benchmark US equity index has posted its worst two-day return since October, dropping 280 points – or 1.4% – since closing near its all-time high of 20,090 on Friday.

Technology and industrial stocks fared worst, amid disappointing earnings and weak consumer confidence data.

Elsewhere the dollar slipped over fresh concerns about President Trump’s trade and migration policies, while the FTSE also slid to a one-month low to close at 7,099.15. 

The selling comes just a day after Wall Street suffered its worst day of 2017 so far.

The S&P 500 technology sector led the fresh decline today, down 0.9 percent. Microsoft and Apple were the biggest drags.

“Many technology CEOs have come out publicly against Trump’s immigration policies and it certainly hurts the sector’s access to highly qualified labor,” said Brant Houston, portfolio manager at Atlantic Trust in Denver, Colorado.

Apple is scheduled to report after markets close this evening. 

A clutch of disappointing quarterly earnings across sectors added to the dour mood.

Package delivery company UPS dropped 6.2 percent to $109.71 after posting a quarterly loss and issuing a full-year profit forecast that missed expectations. The stock weighed the most on the S&P industrials sector.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order last Friday that temporarily banned all citizens from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan. Libya, Somalia and Yemen entry into the US.

In signing the order, Mr Trump said he pledged to “keep radical Islamic terrorists out of the United States of America.”

Craig Sterling, head of US equity research at Pioneer Investments, said: “What we’re seeing here is that life is not a straight line. 

“Perhaps the market is looking at the other side of things. Maybe the Trump administration is not going to do all the things businesses want.”

Goldman Sachs – whose chief executive also spoke out about the controversial travel ban – was today’s heaviest faller, down 2.12%. 

John Conlon, chief investment officer at People’s United Wealth Management, added: “I think it also has to do with what the immigration policy represents [in terms of] the way the Trump administration is going to operate.

“The fact is that you’ve got a major policy that was implemented very quickly. That’s causing uncertainty.”

Yesterday President Trump signed an order that aimed to drastically slash regulations.

Stock markets initially reacted favourably to his election last November, with major indexes hitting a series of records as investors predicted the businessman would seek to lower taxes and push for deregulation.

But in the first weeks after his inauguration, the markets have been hit by uncertainty – with high tensions between the US and Mexico sowing further doubts.

Deutsche Bank analysts Jim Reid and Craig Nichol said in a note to clients on Monday: “While we continue to think a Trump victory likely means higher US growth in 2017 than we would have expected three or six months ago, we still think volatility will be a feature of the year.

“It just seems that there are too many uncertainties, unknowns and major policy changes attached to a Trump presidency for it to be a smooth year.”