U.S. stocks tumble amid oil rout

U.S. stocks traded sharply lower on Tuesday amid a steep sell-off in oil prices.

At midday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average sank 614.86 points, or 2.6 percent, to 23,035.58. The SP 500 was down 84.31 points, or 2.99 percent, to 2,738.85. The Nasdaq Composite Index decreased 301.08 points, or 3.52 percent, to 8,259.64.

All the 11 primary SP 500 sectors traded lower, with technology down more than 4 percent around midday, the worst-performing group.

Oil futures suffered further pain on Tuesday, following a historic drop in the previous session.

The soon-to-expire May contract for U.S. oil futures plunged to deeply below zero on Monday. The negative price territory implies the holder of a long position would be required to pay someone to take that contract off their hands.

The May contract managed to turn positive as of midday Tuesday. However, the most-active June contract for the U.S. benchmark plunged more than 30 percent. The international benchmark Brent fell more than 20 percent.

Wall Street paid close attention to the bizarre movement in oil futures as investors grew concerned that deep losses for the energy industry would hit the U.S. economy even further, experts noted.