On Friday monthly U.S.jobs data will also provide further cues for investors while uncertainty over whether Federal Reserve officials, who meet September 16-17, will raise rates continues to overshadow markets.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA – 16,102.38) snapped a two-day win streak in a big way, plunging 272.4 points, or 1.7%.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index added 2.27 points, or 0.1 percent, to 1,951.13. Meanwhile, Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index snapped a four-day losing streak, edging up 0.5 percent. The USA unemployment rate is forecast to tick down to 5.2 percent in August from the 5.3 percent in July. Record low interest rates since the 2008 financial crisis have been a boon for stock markets so investors await the jobs data and the Fed meeting with trepidation.

“We for a while have felt that there would be pockets of volatility” in markets over the next few years, Mike Amey, a portfolio manager at Pacific Investment Management Co, said, highlighting sharp moves in the Swiss franc in January and German government bonds in April and May as other examples.

ENERGY: Benchmark USA crude oil fell $1.82 to $43.59 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

If the index closes near current levels, it would push its weekly loss to about 3.4 per cent, and mark the sixth decline of one per cent or more over the past 12 days, Bloomberg reports. Chinese markets remain closed until Monday due to holiday. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng also spent most of the day in negative territory before closing up 0.3 percent at 21,670.58.

By midmorning Tuesday, the Dow had slipped 11 percent below its May 21 peak, putting the index into what is generally described as a correction, a drop of 10 percent or more. Stock markets in Southeast Asia, Taiwan and India were lower.

Computer chip giant Intel (NASDAQ:INTL) up 2.1% at 28.41 was wanted after it introduced the 6th Generation Intel Core processor family based on a design dubbed Skylake after the market closed yesterday. Brent crude, used to price worldwide oils, fell $1.06 to $48.99 per barrel in London after jumping $1.49 the previous day to $50.05.

The Nasdaq is down 2.56 points, or 0.1 percent.