US stocks drop amid pressure on tech sector

US stock indices opened lower on Tuesday, amid broad sell-off wave in the tech sector, in addition to Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's statements.

Powell will deliver his testimony before the US Senate Banking Committee later today, and he is expected to talk about monetary policy and the pandemic economic impact.

Powell stressed before that the US economy recovery had moderated and employment slowed during the past few months, but expressed optimism about a return to recovery in tandem with vaccination.

Johns Hopkins University reported that the US Covid-19 death toll exceeded 500,000 victims.

As of 15:12 GMT, Dow Jones fell 0.5% or 165 points to 31,359, Nasdaq fell 2.1% or 283 points to 13,251, and S&P 500 fell 0.8% or 33 points to 3,842.