NEW YORK: Wall Street stocks saw a gloomy opening Tuesday with investors nervous about a growth slowdown and extending losses seen in Asia after Japan’s central bank tightened policy.

About 15 minutes into trading, the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index slumped 0.8 percent to 10,462.61, while the broad-based S&P 500 dipped 0.4 percent to 3,801.88.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.2 percent to 32,707.76.

“If market participants wanted more reason to feel uncertain about the market outlook, they found it today,” said Patrick O’Hare of Briefing.com in an analysis.

He was referring to the Bank of Japan’s shift away from a long-standing ultra-loose monetary policy.

Wall Street falls as recession worries persist

Meanwhile, “market bulls in the US aren’t embracing much of anything,” he added.

Housing construction data released Tuesday was stronger than expected overall, although the forward-looking indicator of building permits dropped sharply.

“The declines in permits, along with gloomy homebuilder sentiment, points to ongoing weakness in housing construction,” said Nancy Vanden Houten of Oxford Economics in a note.

She added that declining residential investment would weigh on economic growth.

The US real estate sector has been reeling from the Federal Reserve’s aggressive campaign to cool demand, fueling fears that the central bank could nudge the economy into a recession and adding to market jitters.