Europe and tech push Wall Street to 3rd day of losses

US stocks closed lower for a third straight day on Tuesday as Europe's fiscal woes and a weak start to tech earnings gave investors little reason to buy even after the recent losses.

Moody's downgrade of Ireland's credit rating late in the session provided the latest jolt to stock investors, reminding them of the scope of Europe's debt problems.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 58.88 points, or 0.47 percent, to 12,446.88 at the close. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index shed 5.85 points, or 0.44 percent, to 1,313.64. The Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 20.71 points, or 0.74 percent, to 2,781.91.

European stocks ended lower, dropping for the third straight session and hitting a four-month low as the lack of political consensus to tackle the region's debt crisis kept investors on edge.

The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares ended 0.5 percent lower at 1,091.72 points, but the index managed to close off the session's low of 1,068.92 points -- a level not seen since mid-March.

The Nikkei average lost 1.4 percent today in its biggest fall in a month, slipping below support at 10,000 as financial stocks tumbled on concern that the euro zone's debt woes may spread to Italy and over a stalemate in US budget talks. The benchmark Nikkei shed 143.61 points to close at 9,925.92, while the broader Topix index fell 1.5 percent to 857.19.