Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 159 points (-1.24 percent) on Tuesday after recession fears and bad news about largest home loan provider Countrywide Financial Corp. came.

US financial major Countrywide Financial Corp. declined the rumors of bankruptcy. Market sentiment was weak after the reports of fabricated documents from Countrywide came. Shares of Countrywide Financial Corp. lost 30% to close at $5.28.

Major losers included American Express Co. which lost nearly 2.4 percent followed by Citigroup Inc. down by nearly 4%. J.P. Morgan Chase also closed $ 1.5 lower below $ 40 with a loss of 3.6 percent.

Software giant Microsoft Corp. lost 2.7% after the announcement from the company about acquisition of Norwegian software developer Fast Search & Transfer for $1.2 billion.

Nasdaq lost nearly 1.16 percent. AT&T lost 6.8% on Tuesday’s trading session. Applied Materials and Lam Research were also down by nearly one percent.