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US stocks follow global markets lower
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NEW YORK (AP) — A rout in global markets spread to the U.S. early Tuesday, nearly wiping out the stock market's gain for the month.

The selling started in Asia following news that the Bank of Japan declined to take any new steps to spur that country's economic growth.

Shortly after 11 a.m., the Dow Jones industrial average was down 72 points to 15,166, a loss of 0.5 percent. The Dow erased about half of an early-morning loss of 152 points. Microsoft fell the most in the Dow, giving up 54 cents, or 1.5 percent, to $34.92.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell nine points to 1,633, a drop of 0.5 percent. Nine of the 10 industry groups in the index fell, led by banks and materials companies. The S&P 500 is still up 0.1 percent for the month.

Lululemon Athletica plunged $13.30, or 16 percent, to $68.89 following news that the yoga-clothing maker's CEO will step down as soon as the company's board finds a replacement.

Overseas, the Bank of Japan voted to stick to its current bond-buying program Tuesday, disappointing those who had expected new measures to help the world's third-largest economy. Japan's Nikkei stock index lost 1.5 percent.

Major stock markets in Europe also fell. Germany's DAX dropped 1.3 and France's CAC-40 lost 1.4 percent.

In the market for U.S. government bonds, the yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.22 percent from 2.21 percent late Monday.

In commodities trading, crude oil fell 98 cents to $94.79 a barrel in New York. Gold dropped $10 to $1,376 an ounce.

The Nasdaq composite fell 16 points to 3,457, a 0.5 percent drop.

Among other companies making big moves:

— Dole Foods soared 21 percent after the company's CEO and his family offered to take the fresh fruit and vegetable company private at $12 per share. That bid values the company at $1.1 billion. The company's stock gained $2.16 to $12.36

— Corinthian Colleges slumped 32 cents, or 11.5 percent, to $2.46 after the company disclosed that it is under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company has been asked to turn over information on student attendance, recruitment, defaults on federal loans and other matters. The Santa Ana, Calif. company runs the Everest, Heald and WyoTech colleges.

— Sprint Nextel rose 21 cents to $7.39, up 3 percent. Japan's Softbank raised its offer for the company by $1.5 billion. Softbank's total bid for the nation's third-largest phone carrier is now valued at $21.6 billion, still short of the $25.5 billion offered by Dish Network in April.