Facebook swaps lobbying executive

Facebook replaced its head of policy in the United States, Erin Egan, Tuesday as the social network scrambles to respond to scrutiny from federal regulators and lawmakers.

Egan, who is also Facebook’s chief privacy officer, was also responsible for lobbying and government relations. She will be replaced by Kevin Martin on an interim basis, the company said. Martin was a Republican chairman of the Federal Communications Commission.

A ‘high-water’ market ripple

The Dow Jones industrial average slipped more than 2 percent — 550 points — at its low in trading Tuesday as a key U.S. government bond yield hit 3 percent for the first time in more than four years and in reaction to a seemingly innocuous comment from a Caterpillar executive.

Traders have been worried the rising yield of long-term government bonds may mean higher rates for consumers and companies and a period of falling stock prices.

The Dow clawed back some ground in the final minutes of trading and closed the day down 1.7 percent, or 424 points.

The Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite also showed sharp losses — dropping 1.3 percent and 1.7 percent respectively.

It was a broad sell-off across sectors, with 3M, Caterpillar, DowDuPont and Travelers leading the losers in the Dow. But companies as diverse as Apple, Coca-Cola and Goldman Sachs all tumbled.

Scott Clemons, chief investment strategist at Brown Brothers Harriman, said the sell-off among the industrials was the result of a brief aside in the earnings call of Caterpillar chief financial officer Brad Halverson, who said the first-quarter profit “will be the high-water mark for the year.”