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Home Depot ( HD ) drops after cutting FY profit forecast

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CBOE Volatility Index hits one-month high

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Indexes: Dow down 0.7%, S&P 500 down 0.3%, Nasdaq down

0.7%

(Updates to afternoon)

By Caroline Valetkevitch

NEW YORK, Nov 18 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks eased on

Tuesday, with the S&P 500 set for a fourth day in a row of

losses as valuation worries hit big technology-related shares

and a disappointing forecast pressured Home Depot ( HD ).

Quarterly results from artificial intelligence and market

leader Nvidia ( NVDA ) are due after the bell on Wednesday. The

U.S. earnings season is near its end, but Nvidia's ( NVDA ) results will

be closely watched by investors worried about market gains tied

to AI exuberance. Nvidia's ( NVDA ) shares were down 1.6%.

The September U.S. jobs report is set to be released on

Thursday after being delayed because of the long government

shutdown. Earlier private market surveys have pointed to a

cooling labor market. Data Tuesday showed the number of

Americans on jobless benefits surged between mid-September and

mid-October.

Shares of Home Depot ( HD ) dropped 4.4% after the home

improvement chain gave a forecast for full-year profit that

disappointed and missed quarterly earnings estimates.

Home Depot ( HD ) aside, earnings for this reporting period have

been much stronger than expected. Year-over-year earnings growth

for the S&P 500 is now at 16.9%, well above the 8.8% estimated

at the start of October, according to the most recent LSEG data.

"You're having this massive sentiment correction during a

period where earnings is delivering maybe above bull

expectations, and, yet, there's so much fear circulating in the

market," said Marta Norton, chief investment strategist at

retirement and wealth services provider Empower.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 315.68 points,

or 0.68%, to 46,274.56, the S&P 500 lost 22.75 points, or

0.34%, to 6,649.66 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 148.12

points, or 0.65%, to 22,559.96.

Concerns over high valuations and dwindling expectations of

a December interest rate cut have led to a pullback in U.S.

stocks, with the S&P 500 down more than 3% from its October

peak.

The CBOE Volatility Index, Wall Street's fear gauge,

hit a one-month high earlier on Tuesday.

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq both closed below their 50-day

moving averages on Monday, an important technical threshold, for

the first time since late April.

There were 55 new highs and 224 new lows on the NYSE. On the

Nasdaq, 2,519 stocks rose and 2,084 fell.

(Additional reporting by Shashwat Chauhan and Twesha Dikshit in

Bengaluru and Chuck Mikolajczak in New York; Editing by Shilpi

Majumdar, Krishna Chandra Eluri and Aurora ellis)