Tuesday's early trade: Wall Street drops in choppy session; Citigroup rises

Wall Street was lower in choppy trading on Tuesday afternoon, as oil prices slid on uncertainty over whether President Donald Trump would withdraw the United States from the Iran nuclear deal. Stocks were lower for most part of the morning before sharply paring losses after CNN reported Trump was expected to impose sanctions on Iran, but may also allow for "a grace period that may offer the deal's proponents an opening to negotiate."
But those moves evaporated just as quickly after the New York Times reported that Trump told French President Emmanuel Macron the United States was going to pull out. Macron's office later said Trump had not given the French leader any indication of his decision. The announcement will be made at 2 pm ET (1800 GMT).
"We're getting conflicting reports about the Iran deal. The market will struggle until we get clarity on this," said Michael Antonelli, managing director, institutional sales trading at Robert W. Baird in Milwaukee. At 12:36 am EDT the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 77.12 points, or 0.32 percent, at 24,280.20, the S&P 500 was down 8.27 points, or 0.31 percent, at 2,664.36 and the Nasdaq Composite was down 18.18 points, or 0.25 percent, at 7,247.03.
The CBOE Volatility Index rose 0.28 points to 15.03, gaining for the first time in four sessions. The S&P financial sector was up 0.6 percent, and along with the industrials group, was the only other gainer among the 11 major S&P sectors.
Citigroup rose 3.4 percent after activist investor ValueAct invested $1.2 billion in the bank, citing its low risk and reliable revenue. Comcast fell 4.8 percent after Reuters reported the cable operator is preparing to make an all-cash offer for media assets that Twenty-First Century Fox has agreed to sell to Disney for $52 billion.