By Abhiram Nandakumar
(Reuters) - Apple dragged Wall Street lower on Tuesday, cutting short a feeble recovery from a bruising selloff on the first trading day of the year.
A fall in crude oil prices and a stronger dollar also contributed to the shaky start to the year, which was triggered by weak Chinese economic data on Monday.
In a bid to stabilize its markets, the People's Bank of China on Tuesday injected $20 billion into the financial system.
"Fears of a global recession are valid and fears about China are valid, and they will put some downward pressure on stocks in general, so I do expect 2016 to be negative, but not by much," said Mohannad Aama, managing director, Beam Capital Management in New York.
Apple's shares (O:AAPL) were down 2.5 percent at $102.68 after the Nikkei reported that the iPhone maker was expected to cut production of its 6S and 6S Plus models.
The stock was the biggest drag on the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq, while Goldman Sachs (N:GS) weighed the most on the Dow.
At 12:30 p.m. ET (1730 GMT), the Dow Jones industrial average (DJI) was down 86.84 points, or 0.51 percent, at 17,062.1, the S&P 500 (SPX) was down 5.71 points, or 0.28 percent, at 2,006.95 and the Nasdaq Composite index (IXIC) was down 23.04 points, or 0.47 percent, at 4,880.05.
Six of the 10 major S&P sectors were lower, led by a 0.87 percent decline in the energy sector <.SPNY>. Exxon (N:XOM) and Chevron (N:CVX) weighed the most.
Gilead rose 0.9 percent to $98.89 after its experimental hepatitis B drug was found safer than but as effective as its approved treatment, Viread.
Eli Lilly (N:LLY) reversed course to trade up 1 percent at $83.66 after the drugmaker said its diabetes treatment grabbed market share in the fourth quarter.
First Solar (O:FSLR) was up 6.8 percent at $71.20 after Goldman Sachs upgraded the stock to "buy".
Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by 1,538 to 1,453. On the Nasdaq, 1,529 issues fell and 1,178 rose.
The S&P 500 index showed three new 52-week highs and five new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 14 new highs and 43 lows.