Stocks: Worst day since November 2011

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NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- The fear trade picked up steam Tuesday, as investors grew increasingly worried about Europe's fiscal health. All three indexes closed down more than 1.5%, marking the fifth straight losing day for stocks.

Early in the day investors, traded out of stocks after reading headlines about rising borrowing costs for Spain and Italy. As the day progressed, investors grew increasingly jittery over the health of the global economy, which caused the sell-off to intensify.

"People are starting to get very concerned about the macro picture of both sovereign debt and China's slowing growth," said Sam Ginzburg, head of trading at First NY. "We're starting to get very worried about going back to a recession."

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDU) closed down 214 points, or 1.7%, capping off the worst day since November 2011. The S&P 500 (SPX) lost 24 points, or 1.7%. The Nasdaq (COMP) fell 56 points, or 1.8%.

The S&P 500 also had the worst day since November 2011, while Nasdaq posted the worst finish since December 2011.

European stocks slumped more than 2%.

Yields on Spain's 10-year bonds hovered just under 6%, the highest level in more than three months. Borrowing costs have been trending higher as the government struggles to push through budget cuts. In Italy, the yields rose near 5.7%.

Peter Boockvar, chief equity strategist at Miller Tabak, said that while U.S. investors had been largely ignoring sovereign debt questions in Europe, the continent's problems cannot be ignored now.

As part of a broad retreat from risky assets, investors jumped into U.S. Treasuries, driving the yield on 10-year Treasuries below 2% for the first time in more than a month.

Twenty-nine of the Dow's 30 components ended in the red, with Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500) leading the broad retreat. Oil and industrial stocks were also among the biggest decliners. GE (GE, Fortune 500), Caterpillar (CAT, Fortune 500) and Exxon (XOM, Fortune 500) fell more than 1%.

The so-called fear index, the VIX (VIX), rose nearly 11% Tuesday and is up nearly 33% over the past five days. It's at 20.5, still far from 30 -- a reading that typically signals heightened investor fear.

Investors got one positive surprise after the markets closed. Dow component Alcoa (AA, Fortune 500) beat earnings estimates when it reported after the closing bell. Alcoa's earnings unofficially begins the release of first-quarter financial results.

Analysts are forecasting a 0.1% drop in first-quarter earnings for companies in the S&P 500 compared to a year earlier, according to FactSet. While that's not a major decline, it would mark the end of a nine-quarter winning streak. Stocks were on a tear in the first three months of this year, with the Dow and S&P 500 enjoying their best first quarter in over a decade.

"We're essentially expecting no growth, but we could see earnings come in worse than that," said Boockvar. "I think we have the potential for some disappointment."

Stocks finished lower Monday, as investors reacted to the disappointing March jobs report released last week.

World markets: European stocks closed down sharply. Britain's FTSE-100 (UKX) slipped 2.2%, the DAX (DAX) in Germany dropped 2.5%, and France's CAC 40 (CAC40) shed 3.8%.

In Asia, Japan's Nikkei (N225) slipped 0.1%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng (HSI) lost 1.2% and the Shanghai Composite (SHCOMP) gained 0.9%.

Economy: Wholesale inventories came in higher than expected for February with a 0.9% increase above the 0.5% rise forecast by economists. Inventories rose 0.4% in January.

On Monday, Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said in a speech in Georgia that banks need to increase their capital buffers in order to ensure stability in the financial system.

Companies: Shares of electronics retailer Best Buy (BBY, Fortune 500) surged then dropped after the company announced that CEO Brian Dunn had resigned and the company would begin a search for a new CEO.

Sony (SNE) shares dropped after the electronics maker announced it expects an annual loss of more than double its previous projection. The company said the revision came after recording additional tax expenses, primarily in the United States.

Shares of grocery retailer Supervalu (SVU, Fortune 500) were up 15%, after the company reported earnings that beat expectations and offered strong guidance.

Apple's (AAPL, Fortune 500) shares hit another all-time high Tuesday.

Currencies and commodities: The dollar gained against the euro and the British pound but fell against the Japanese yen.

Oil for May delivery lost $1.32 to $101.14 a barrel.

Gold futures for April delivery gained $16.60 to $1,660.50 an ounce.