U.S. stocks tumble after Memorial Day holiday

U.S. stocks slid in the morning session Tuesday, as investors digested a string of data releases and Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen's speech.

At midday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 184.88 points, or 1.01 percent, to 18,047.14. The S&P 500 dropped 20.11 points, or 0.95 percent, to 2,105.95. The Nasdaq Composite Index slipped 55.99 points, or 1.10 percent, to 5,033.37.

U.S. new orders for manufactured durable goods in April decreased 0.5 percent to 235.5 billion U.S. dollars, roughly in line with market expectations, the Commerce Department said Tuesday. This decrease, down for two of the last three months, followed a 5.1 percent increase in March.

In a separately report, the Commerce Department said U.S. sales of new single-family houses in April 2015 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 517,000, beating market consensus. This is 6.8 percent above the revised March rate of 484,000 and 26.1 percent above the April 2014 estimate of 410,000.

The S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, the leading measure of U.S. home prices, showed that the 10-City Composite gained 4.7 percent year over year in March, while the 20-City Composite added 5 percent.

Meanwhile, markets were still reflecting on Yellen's speech delivered on Friday. "If the economy continues to improve as I expect, I think it will be appropriate at some point this year to take the initial step to raise the federal funds rate target," Yellen said.

She noted that first quarter weakness was largely transitory, but that it would take several years for rates to return to normal.

In corporate news, Charter Communications has agreed to buy Time Warner Cable for 55 billion dollars, finally clinching an agreement after its early 2014 bid was rejected and Comcast abandoned its offer. Shares of Time Warner Cable jumped 4.81 percent around midday Tuesday. Endite