U.S. stocks retreat on global growth concerns

U.S. stocks slid midday Tuesday after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) cut its global economic forecasts for the next two years.

At noon, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 139.56 points, or 0.80 percent, to 17,372.01. The S&P 500 lost 12.28 points, or 0. 61 percent, to 2,007.14. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 24.75 points, or 0.53 percent, to 4,609.64.

The IMF lowered its global economic growth forecast to 3.5 percent and 3.7 percent for 2015 and 2016 respectively on Tuesday. The global growth rates in 2015-2016 represented both downward revisions of 0.3 percentage points relative to the October 2014 World Economic Outlook, the IMF's flagship report said.

Adding negative sentiment to the market, China's economy grew 7. 4 percent in 2014, the weakest annual expansion in 24 years, China 's National Bureau of Statistics reported Tuesday.

In corporate news, Morgan Stanley reported net revenues of 7.76 billion U.S. dollars for the fourth quarter of 2014, down 1 percent from 7.85 billion dollars a year ago.

Quarterly income from continuing operations applicable to Morgan Stanley rose to 1 billion dollars from 95 million dollars a year ago, but its adjusted per-share earnings of 39 cents still missed market forecast.

Latest data from Thomson Reuters showed that S&P 500 companies' per-share earnings in the fourth quarter are expected to grow 3.4 percent year on year, while revenue growth is forecast to increase 0.9 percent.

Investors were also keeping an eye on the European Central Bank, which was expected to expand its monetary stimulus by announcing a government bond buying program at a meeting on Thursday.

U.S. stock markets were closed on Monday for the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

On Friday, U.S. stocks rebounded after five consecutive sessions of losses on better-than-expected earnings from Goldman Sachs, upbeat consumer sentiment and surging oil prices, but the three benchmark indices still capped the past week with losses. Endite