Tuesday's afternoon trade: Wall Street drops

US stocks dropped on Tuesday on worries about a possible downgrade of the United States' top credit rating and signs of economic weakness even as Congress passed a bill to avoid a debt default. But shortly after the vote, Fitch Ratings said the agreement to raise the US borrowing capacity means the risk of a sovereign default is "extremely low" and commensurate with a AAA rating.
The S&P 500 was down for a seventh day and was on track for its longest down streak since October 2008. The Dow Jones industrial average was down 131.91 points, or 1.09 percent, at 12,000.58. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 17.62 points, or 1.37 percent, at 1,269.32. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 35.05 points, or 1.28 percent, at 2,709.56.