U.S. stocks tumbled on Tuesday, logging fifth consecutive losses and the worst one-day performance this year.

Dow Jones Industrial Average shed more than 200 points. This round of decline started from the end of last week as job data for March was worse than expected. On Tuesday, the sell-off persisted as investors concerns about the global economic slowdown.

The Dow Jones industrial average lost 213.66 points, or 1.65 percent, to 12,715.93. The Standard & Poor's 500 was down 23.61 points, or 1.71 percent, to 1,358.59. The Nasdaq Composite Index gave up 55.86 points, or 1.83 percent, to 2,991.22.

On the economic front, the U.S. Commerce Department said wholesale inventories rose more than expected in February by 0.9 percent to a record 478.9 billion dollars.

Meanwhile, small business confidence slipped for the first time in six months as the National Federation of Independent Business said its optimism index dropped to 92.5 in March from 94.3 in February.

Italy and Spain saw their bond yields rose. Bank of Spain Governor Fernandez Ordonez said Spanish banks may need more capital, raising concerns about the country's debt issues. European shares hit a 10-week low on Tuesday amid European debt crisis concerns and global economy slowdown.

Meanwhile, China posted unexpected trade surplus of 5.35 billion dollars in March, easing investors' concerns about the slowdown in the world's second largest economy.

The Bank of Japan announced Tuesday to keep its key interest rate unchanged at around 0 to 0.1 percent. The central bank noted that overseas economies were still decelerating, but Europe has stopped deteriorating and financial markets were generally stable.

However, the start of earnings season came as a relief for Tuesday's market as investors expected corporations to deliver strong first quarter earnings results.

Alcoa kicked off the earnings season with better-than-expected results. The aluminum maker made a profit of 10 cents per share in the first quarter, sharply higher than Wall Street expectations for a loss of 4 cents per share. Revenue also beat expectations at 6 billion dollars. JP Morgan and Wells Fargo are also scheduled to release earnings reports this week.

On other markets, the dollar rose as risk-aversion appetite emerged in the market, which also lifted the gold price on Tuesday. Oil priced dropped more than 1 percent on global demand concerns.