The Dow Jones industrial average tumbled 277.04 points, or 2.17 percent, and closed at 12,501.11. The Nasdaq composite index lost 60.71 points, 2.45 percent, and finished at 2,417.59. The Standard & Poor's 500 closed down 2.49 percent, 35.30 points, at 1,380.95.

"You do see some good values out there in the market," Kim Caughey, senior investment analyst at Pittsburgh's Fort Pitt Capital Group, told The Wall Street Journal. "But then you think, ugh, I don't know what's going to happen to the economy."

Investors reacted to Citigroup's posting a $9.8 billion loss. Production prices and retail sales also were down for December, two U.S. government departments reported Tuesday.

On the New York Stock Exchange, 817 stocks advanced and 2,340 declined on a listed volume of 4.5 billion shares.

The 10-year U.S. Treasury note closed at 26/32, yielding 3.677 percent.

The euro exchanged at $1.4804 from $1.4871 late Monday. The dollar traded at 106.73 yen from 108.19 yen.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Index fell 0.98 percent to close at 13,972.63 points

Britain's FTSE 100 Index slipped 0.8 percent to 6,163.30.