Wall St ends lower on tech weakness, oil extends slide

NEW YORK, Oct 15 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks closed down on Tuesday, following world stocks lower as a weak sales forecast from chipmaker ASML (ASML.AS), opens new tab weighed on tech shares, while crude extended its slide due to easing supply worries and weakening demand.

The three major U.S. indexes ended the session in negative territory, with the S&P 500 and the Dow easing back from Monday's record closing highs.

Financial firms Goldman Sachs (GS.N), opens new tab, Citigroup (C.N), opens new tab and Bank of America (BAC.N), opens new tab all posted better-than-expected profit, while healthcare companies UnitedHealth (UNH.N), opens new tab and Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N), opens new tab results underwhelmed investors.

But Netherlands-based chip equipment maker ASML posted third quarter results that surprised markets with weak bookings and lower-than-expected sales forecasts, dour news that proved contagious to the U.S. chip sector (.SOX), opens new tab.

"The U.S. stock market is so heavily weighted in tech, it’s going to drive where the overall market appears to be going," said Rob Haworth, senior investment strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management in Seattle. "But below the surface it’s not bad news across the board."

"The global story is more due to soft data," Haworth added.

Energy stocks (.SPNY), opens new tab suffered the steepest percentage drop among the major S&P 500 sectors, falling 3.04% on sliding crude prices.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI), opens new tab fell 324.60 points, or 0.75%, to 42,740.62, the S&P 500 (.SPX), opens new tab fell 44.54 points, or 0.76%, to 5,815.31 and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC), opens new tab fell 187.10 points, or 1.01%, to 18,315.59.

European stocks posted their largest one-day percentage drop in over two weeks, weighed by tech stocks in the wake of ASML's disappointing annual sales forecast.

Meanwhile, investors remained focused on the European Central Bank's rate decision on Thursday.

MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe (.MIWD00000PUS), opens new tab fell 6.20 points, or 0.72%, to 850.98. The STOXX 600 (.STOXX), opens new tab index fell 0.8%, while Europe's broad FTSEurofirst 300 index (.FTEU3), opens new tab fell 19.22 points, or 0.92%.

Emerging market stocks (.MSCIEF), opens new tab fell 11.40 points, or 0.98%, to 1,148.66.

Oil prices slid to a near two-week low, extending Monday's losses amid easing supply pressures arising from the conflict in the Middle East, amid reports Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told U.S. President Joe Biden's administration that Israel would avoid striking Iranian oil targets.