U.S. stocks closed lower Tuesday, amid record lows in the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield, as global growth concerns weighed.
The Dow Jones industrial average closed about 108 points lower after earlier falling 164 points, with Goldman Sachs contributing the most to declines.
"It's really just currency and yields. By watching currencies, watching yields, you get a pretty good sense of what's on investors' minds and right now it looks like slowing economic growth," said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at BMO Private Bank.
Longer-end Treasury yields hit record lows, with the 30-year yield last around 2.15 percent. The 10-year yield touched an all-time low of 1.3570 percent, according to Reuters Tradeweb data going back to 1953.
The U.S. dollar index was more than half a percent higher, with the euro near $1.107 and the yen near 101.7 yen versus the greenback. Pound sterling traded near $1.304, around levels not seen in more than 30 years.
U.S. markets were closed Monday for the July 4 holiday, after the Dow Jones industrial average and S&P 500 recovered most of their post-Brexit losses to post their best week of the year so far.
"As of Friday's close in the U.S., that assumed Brexit was no big deal, that it was a non-event," said Peter Boockvar, chief market analyst at The Lindsey Group. "That was naive."
"I think we're taking our cue from Europe, weakness in European banks," he said.
European stocks closed mostly lower, with the German DAX off more than 1.8 percent. The STOXX Europe 600 Banks index traded more than 2.7 percent lower, tracking for its worst day in more than a week. The FTSE 100 closed about a third of a percent higher.
On Monday, the European Central Bank opened the door to state aid for euro zone banks, with Italy in talks with the European Commission over a plan to recapitalize Italian lenders with public money, Reuters reported.
Separately, Standard Life Investments, the fund arm of insurer Standard Life, suspended Monday all trading in its UK real estate fund, Reuters said. The decision was taken after an increase in redemption requests due to uncertainty following the EU referendum result, the firm said in a statement cited by the news wire.
The Dow transports closed more than 1 percent lower with Avis Budget leading decliners and UPS the only gainer.
Energy and materials closed nearly 1.9 percent lower to lead S&P 500 decliners. Financials was the third-greatest decliner, off 1.5 percent.
U.S. crude oil futures for August delivery settled down 4.88 percent or $2.39, at $46.60 a barrel. Natural gas prices fell roughly 7 percent.
The Nasdaq composite ended about 0.8 percent lower, after earlier falling more than 1 percent. Apple closed 0.9 percent lower, and the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB) ended nearly 1 percent lower.
Citi cut estimates for Apple's fiscal third and fourth-quarter earnings Tuesday, citing Brexit-related macroeconomic uncertainty, currency volatility and longer iPhone replacement cycles.
U.S. stocks closed higher Friday, the first trading day of the second half of the year. Traders attributed much of the four-straight days of gains to seasonal flows and recovery from the post-Brexit plunge that erased about $3 trillion globally in paper assets.
"At the end of the day it still leaves a lot of questions about global economic activity," said Mark Luschini, chief investment strategist at Janney Montgomery Scott.
"I think it's a market in need of a catalyst," he said.
Factory orders declined 1.0 percent in May. The highly anticipated employment report is due Friday.
New York Fed President William Dudley said the U.S. economy is doing OK on average but if Brexit leads to questions about the stability of the European Union, it could have more severe consequences for the U.S. economy. He cited low inflation and uncertainties over outlook as reasons to be patient on raising rates.
The major U.S. stock averages briefly extended opening losses amid FBI Director James Comey's late-morning comments about the investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of a private email servers. He said his office is not recommending that prosecutors bring charges against Clinton.
Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Wunderlich Securities, said the remarks give "certainty around who the (presidential) candidates are going to be now" and the markets' focus would return to existing concerns.
Major U.S. Indexes
Overnight, Asian stocks were mostly lower, with the Hang Seng nearly 1.5 percent lower and the Nikkei 225 about two-thirds of a percent lower.
The Caixin China services PMI hit an 11-month high in June, at 52.7 from 51.2 the prior month.
The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 108.75 points, or 0.61 percent, at 17,840.62, with JPMorgan Chase leading decliners and Johnson & Johnson the top gainer.
The closed down 14.4 points, or 0.68 percent, at 2,088.55, with energy leading eight sectors lower and utilities and consumer staples the only advancers.
The Nasdaq composite closed down 39.67 points, or 0.82 percent, at 4,822.90.
The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX), widely considered the best gauge of fear in the market, briefly surged more than 10 percent higher to top 16 and break a 5-day losing streak over which it fell 42.7 percent.
About three stocks declined for every advancer on the New York Stock Exchange, with an exchange volume of 968 million and a composite volume of about 3.6 billion in the close.
Gold futures for August delivery settled up $19.70 at $1,358.70 an ounce, a two-year high.
—CNBC's Kate Rooney and Reuters contributed to this report.
On tap this week:
Wednesday
8:30 a.m. International trade
8 a.m. New York Fed President William Dudley
9 a.m. Fed Gov. Daniel Tarullo on a panel
9:45 a.m. Services PMI
10 a.m. ISM nonmanufacturing
2 p.m. FOMC minutes
Thursday
8:15 a.m. ADP payrolls
8:30 a.m. Initial claims
Friday
8:30 a.m. Employment report
3 p.m. Consumer credit
*Planner subject to change.