The US markets on Tuesday recorded a decline amid the recent news from the Institute for Supply Management that the non- manufacturing US business fell in January for the first time since March 2003.

Also, the Richmond Federal Reserve bank president Jeffrey Lacker announced on Tuesday that the troubles in the housing market would still continue through 2008.

Thus, the Dow Jones industrial average declined by 2.9 percent, or 370.03 points, reaching 12,265.13, while the Standard & Poor 500 index also reported a loss of 44.18 points, dropping 3.2 percent to 1,336.64. In addition, the Nasdaq index was down by 3.8 percent, or 73.28 points, to 2,309.57.

The 10-year note was rose 16/32, yielding 3.56 percent.

Other stock markets were also affected by the bad news in the US, as the Nikkei average fell by 114.20 points, down 0.8 percent to 13,745.5.

However, the dollar registered a rise, as the euro traded at 1.4645 dollars on Tuesday, compared with 1.4799 dollars on Monday.