US stocks head lower on renewed concerns about global growth outlook; oil slumps

U.S. stocks are heading lower on Tuesday amid renewed worries about the outlook for global growth. The price of oil fell, pushing energy stocks lower. Drugmakers also dropped, adding to their losses from Monday, when they plunged on concerns about new regulations.

KEEPING SCORE: The Standard & Poor's 500 index dropped 23 points, or 1.1 percent, to 1,943 as of 10:13 a.m. Eastern. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 200 points, or 1.2 percent, to 16,308, and the Nasdaq composite dropped 67 points, or 1.4 percent, to 4,761.

CANNED FOOD: ConAgra Foods tumbled 4 percent after posting a $1.2 billion quarterly loss. Sales for the maker of Chef Boyardee, Hebrew National hot dogs and other packaged food also fell short of analysts' forecasts. ConAgra's stock sank $1.65 to $40.75.

EUROPE: Germany's DAX dropped 3 percent, and France's CAC-40 3 percent. Britain's FTSE 100 index was down 2.1 percent.

VW IN CRISIS: Volkswagen AG, the world's top-selling carmaker, issued a profit warning after it said that some 11 million of its diesel vehicles worldwide were fitted with software to cheat U.S. emissions test. The company said it was setting aside around 6.5 billion euros ($7.3 billion) to cover the fallout from the scandal.

The company's stock dropped 17 percent on Tuesday, adding to Monday's sharp losses. The company's market value has slumped 25 billion euros in two days.

CHINESE FACTORIES: Investors are also fretting about China ahead of monthly manufacturing data from that nation on Wednesday. Caixin's preliminary index, based on a survey of factory purchasing managers, will be closely watched after sinking to a six-year low in August. Fed officials cited China's struggling economy as one factor in its decision last week to delay raising interest rates.

ASIA'S DAY: Major indexes throughout Asia ended higher, with Hong Kong's Hang Seng up 0.2 percent and mainland China's Shanghai Composite Index up 0.9 percent. South Korea's Kospi added 0.9 percent, and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.7 percent. Markets in Japan remain closed for a three-day holiday.

CRUDE: Benchmark U.S. crude oil lost 89 cents to trade at $46.06 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent Crude, a benchmark for international oils used by many U.S. refineries, fell 62 cents to $49.07 in London.

BONDS & CURRENCIES: Government bonds rose, pushing the yield on the 10-year Treasury note to 2.16 percent, down from 2.20 percent late Monday. The euro slipped to 0.3 percent to $1.1156 while the dollar fell 0.5 percent to 120.14 yen.