Turmoil in the eurozone and a clutch of disappointing earnings reports have sent US markets tumbling.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gave up almost 200 points at one point during the session, but a late buying rally reversed course to minimise the day’s loss.

The Dow closed off 76.44 points (0.59 per cent) at 12,932.09, while the broader S&P 500 fell 5.86 (0.43 per cent) to 1,363.72.

The tech-rich Nasdaq dropped 11.49 (0.39 per cent) to 2,946.27.

Losses were spread broadly, with little in the way of domestic US news to overshadow worries that parties opposed to conditions of the 130 billion euros ($A167.19 billion) IMF-EU bailout for Greece might take power in Greece.

The markets were “pressured by some disappointing reports from the domestic equity front… exacerbating early uneasiness stemming from resurfacing eurozone debt crisis concerns,” said analysts at Charles Schwab & Co.

McDonald’s April sales growth reports for its popular burger outlets came in below general expectations, pushing its share price down 2.1 per cent.

Casino operator Wynn Resorts was down 4.8 per cent after it missed expectations on per-share earnings for the first quarter.

Gamemaker Electronic Arts lost 4.3 per cent after handing analysts a weaker-than-expected earnings outlook and revealing a sharp fall in subscribers to its multiplayer game “Star Wars: The Old Republic”.

Fashion house Fossil plunged 37.6 per cent after reporting poor first-quarter sales, mainly due to the sagging European market, and issuing a disappointing forecast for the second quarter.

Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury dropped to 1.84 per cent from Monday’s 1.88 per cent, while the 30-year slipped to 3.02 per cent from 3.07 per cent.

Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.