Financeroll.com -- U.S. stocks fell on Tuesday as retail sales dented hopes the recession was abating and financial shares slid on fears that Goldman Sachs' share offering could prompt others to follow suit.
Retail sales in March snapped two months of increases and sparked selling across the board, with the stocks of retailers, big manufacturers, technology and energy companies among the casualties. The S&P retail index fell 2.5 percent.

But the financial sector, took the biggest beating by far, with Bank index falling 8.1 percent and the S&P financial index dropping 7.7 percent.

The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 137.63 points, or 1.71 percent, to 7,920.18. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell 17.23 points, or 2.01 percent, to 841.50. The Nasdaq Composite Index declined 27.59 points, or 1.67 percent, to 1,625.72.