US stocks turn negative late; Dow off 200 points

NEW YORK — U.S. stocks closed lower Tuesday after falling sharply in the final hour of trading.

Stocks surged early in the day, rebounding from a big sell-off on Monday after the Chinese central bank said it was cutting interest rates to shore up its economy.

However, investor confidence remains fragile after a series of big drops in recent days and the market suffered a dramatic reversal in the final hour of trading.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 204.78, or 1.3 percent, to 15,666.44 The Standard & Poor’s 500 index dropped 25.60 points, or 1.4 percent, to 1,867.62. The Nasdaq composite dropped 19.76 points, or 0.4 percent, to 4,506.49.

Treasury bonds fell, pushing up the yield on the benchmark 10-year note to 2.09 percent.