US stocks fall as dollar surges

Wall Street stocks fell sharply Tuesday on a strengthening US dollar despite news of Charter Communication's $78.7 billion deal to buy Time Warner Cable.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 190.48 points (1.04 percent) to 18,041.54.

The broad-based S&P 500 fell 21.86 (1.03 percent) to 2,104.20, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 56.61 (1.11 percent) to 5,032.75.

The dollar rose sharply against the euro and other currencies following solid US economic data and worries over increasingly cash-short Greece's talks with creditors.

The revival of Greece worries "causes a weaker euro and a stronger dollar, and that adds to concerns for everybody who does business overseas," said Michael James, managing director of equity trading at Wedbush Securities.

Stronger US data has also sparked speculation the US Federal Reserve will hike interest rates "sooner than people are looking for," James said.

Time Warner Cable jumped 7.3 percent following Charter's announcement to create a cable giant. The move comes after Comcast in April withdrew a bid for Time Warner Cable in the wake of opposition from antitrust regulators. Charter gained 2.5 percent. Comcast shares added 1.2 percent.

Many technology stocks retreated, including Dow member Apple (-2.2 percent), Google (-1.4 percent), Facebook (-1.5 percent) and biotech companies like Amgen (-2.8 percent).

Petroleum stocks such as Chevron (-1.5 percent) and Anadarko Petroleum (-2.3 percent) suffered with the drop in oil prices. Lower copper prices dented metals and oil giant Freeport-McMoRan (-4.3 percent).

Airlines stocks were also weak, with Delta Air Lines falling 3.1 percent and United Continental dropping 3.3 percent.

First Solar fell 7.3 percent after RBC Capital Markets downgraded the stock, saying competitors have caught up with its low-cost modules.

Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury dropped to 2.14 percent from 2.21 percent Friday, while the 30-year fell to 2.89 percent from 2.99 percent. Bond prices and yields move inversely.