NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Stocks slumped Tuesday, ending a choppy month on a down note, as investors took in a rash of disappointing economic reads as well as Google's concerns about growth.

The Nasdaq composite (down 25.79 to 2,281.39, Charts) lost 1.1 percent, the Standard & Poor's 500 (down 13.46 to 1,280.66, Charts) index lost 1 percent and the Dow Jones industrial average (down 104.14 to 10,993.41, Charts) lost just short of 1 percent.

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Small caps got hit too, with the Russell 2000 (down 9.99 to 730.64, Charts) index losing almost 1.4 percent.

Treasury prices rose, lowering the corresponding yields, and the dollar fell versus other major currencies. Oil and gold prices gained.

After rising soundly in the first month of the year, the major gauges struggled in a typically choppy February. The Dow ultimately rose 1.2 percent in the month, the S&P 500 ended fractionally higher and the Nasdaq lost around 1 percent.

"On a technical level, we've been flirting with 1300 on the S&P 500," said Tim Heekin, head of stock trading at Thomas Weisel Partners, "and that move has been on significantly lower volume."

The S&P 500 hasn't closed above 1300 in five years. The S&P 500's inability to do so in February -- combined with the weaker volume -- could suggest more choppy trading ahead in the short term, Heekin added.

"I don't think it's surprising that we're seeing this roll-off, and it's probably going to continue," he added.

Most of the quarterly earnings are already out and the next Federal Reserve policy meeting is not until later in March, leaving the market without a big potential near-term catalyst.

Wednesday brings reads on auto and truck sales, personal income and personal spending, construction spending, manufacturing and crude oil inventories.

As of 6:00 p.m. ET, Nasdaq and S&P futures pointed to a mostly flat open for stocks, when fair value is taken into account.

Tuesday's selloff was caused by disappointing economic news as much as Google's news, said Art Hogan, chief market analyst at Jefferies & Co.

Google's chief financial officer said growth in search engines is slowing, and the company will need to find other ways to boost revenue. Google (down $27.76 to $362.62, Research) lost 7 percent, recovering from a steeper decline right after the news broke. (Full story.)

Additionally, the day's economic reports all came in weaker-than-expected, he noted, including readingsgo-area manufacturing.

In addition, investors digested the revised read on gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the fourth-quarter, which met estimates, but still showed a big slowdown from the third quarter.

"GDP growth of 1.6 percent is disturbing," Hogan said, "even though there are forecasts that the first-quarter could make up for it."

Then came the Google news in late morning, and that definitely gave people a fright, said Thomas Weisel's Ted Heekin.

Web stocks took a beating along with Google, with the Goldman Sachs Internet (Charts) index losing 2.2 percent. Components Yahoo! (down $0.68 to $32.06, Research), Earthlink (down $0.26 to $9.92, Research) and eBay (down $1.22 to $40.06, Research) all declined at least two percent.

Software suffered broad declines as well, with the Goldman Sachs Software (down 1.87 to 167.19, Charts) index falling 1.1 percent.

Apple Computer (down $2.50 to $68.49, Research) introduced a new iPod home stereo device Tuesday, and a Mac mini powered by Intel chips. Shares fell 3.5 percent in active Nasdaq trade following the announcement.

A number of sectors beyond tech were hit, including financial, biotech, retail and oil.

Among blue-chip movers, 27 out of 30 Dow stocks fell.

The steepest decliners were Hewlett Packard (down $0.60 to $32.81, Research), Procter & Gamble (down $1.42 to $59.93, Research), Boeing (down $1.44 to $72.69, Research) and American Express (down $0.86 to $53.88, Research). American Express was one of several bank stocks on the slide.

Home building stocks fell for a second session, with the Dow Jones Home Construction (down $17.22 to $886.56, Research) index losing 1.9 percent.

The biotech sector was also hit hard, sending the Amex Biotechnology (Charts) index down 2.3 percent.

Component Affymetrix (down $3.84 to $35.51, Research) lost 10 percent, while Biogen Idec (down $2.85 to $47.25, Research) declined 5.7 percent. Component Millennium Pharmaceuticals (down $0.67 to $10.48, Research) eased 6 percent on a JP Morgan downgrade.

Those stocks may have been influenced partly by King Pharmaceuticals (down $3.62 to $16.25, Research), a company that is not part of the biotech index. King fell 18.2 percent after the specialty drugmaker reported fourth-quarter revenue and earnings per share that fell from a year earlier and missed expectations.

Among other movers, shares of Hospira (down $7.34 to $39.70, Research) slumped 15.6 percent in unusually active New York Stock Exchange trade. The hospital products maker reported weaker fourth-quarter earnings that missed forecasts due to lower-than-expected sales.

Market breadth was negative. On the New York Stock Exchange, losers beat winners by eleven to five on volume of 1.76 billion shares. On the Nasdaq, decliners topped advancers by two to one on volume of 2.15 billion shares.

Existing home sales fell more than expected in January, according to a report released in the morning. A separate report showed consumer confidence dropped more than expected in February.

The Chicago PMI -- a regional read on manufacturing -- also declined by more than expected in February.

U.S. light crude oil for April delivery added 41 cents to settle at $61.41 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The price of crude had slipped Monday and early Tuesday as concerns waned about unrest in Iran and how that might impact crude supplies from OPEC's No. 2 oil-producing nation.

Treasury prices gained, lowering the yield on the 10-year note to around 4.545 percent from 4.59 percent late Monday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

In currency trading, the dollar fell versus the euro and the yen.

COMEX gold for April delivery rose $6.90 to settle at $563.90 an ounce.

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