Stocks mostly fall as investors remain cautious

NEW YORK, New York - Investors were unable to bail out of U.S. stocks on Tuesday as mounting layoffs continued.

On Tuesday, Morgan Stanley reported that approximately 1,600 people, about two percent of its workforce will be let go.

Adam Sarhan, CEO of 50 Park Investments, told CNBC that we are seeing another round of layoffs this week, and that only increases the odds that we will have a hard landing in 2023 and enter a deeper recession than originally anticipated.

Despite relentless selling, the pressure eased towards the end of the day and losses were trimmed.

The Nasdaq Composite plunged 225.05 points or 2.00 percent to 11,014. The Standard and Poor's 500 decelerated 57.58 points or 1.44 percent to 3,941. The Dow Jones industrials gave up 350.76 points or 1.03 percent, or 33,596. The U.S. dollar was higher on foreign exchange markets. The euro was close to New York on Tuesday, at 1.0467. The British pound was softer to 1.2145. The Japanese yen was little changed at 136.90, as was the Swiss franc at 0.9418.

The Canadian dollar was down to 1.3649. The Australian dollar fell to 0.6691 after the Reserve Bank of Australia hiked official interest rates by 25 basis points, the eighth monthly increase in a row. Shares in Europe were sold off on overseas equity markets. It has been another lackluster and negative session for European markets, with investors keeping their eyes fixed on next week's central bank meetings from the Federal Reserve, as well as the European Central Bank, according to CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson, speaking to PA Media Tuesday.

After seeing decent gains over the last few weeks, there seems to be little appetite to drive markets higher in the short term, with modest profit-taking helping to keep a lid on things. In Germany, the Dax fell by 104.42 points or 0.72 percent to 14,343. The Paris-based CAC 40 increased its lead to 6,687 by 9.17 points or 0.14 percent. In London, the FTSE 100 dropped 46.15 points or 0.61 percent to 7,521. On Asian markets, the Nikkei 225 in Japan added 65.47 points or 0.24 percent to 27,885. The Hang Seng declined 77.11 points, or 0.40 percent, in Hong Kong, to 19,441. China's Shanghai Composite was flat, at a loss of 0.72 of a point ot 0.02 percent to 3,212. The Australian All Ordinaries fell by 40.10 points or 0.53 percent to 7,487. In Indonesia, the Jakarta Composite Index fell by 94.76 points or 1.36 percent to 6,892. New Zealand's S&P NZX 50 dropped 46.15 points or 0.40 percent to 11,631. The Kospi Composite in Seoul, South Korea, was down 26.16 points or 1.08 percent at 2,393.