NEW YORK (AFP) - US stocks finished sharply lower Tuesday after the International Monetary Fund trimmed its global growth forecast while Germany posted a second straight day of disappointing economic data.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 272.52 points (1.60 per cent) to 16,719.39.

The broad-based S&P 500 fell 29.72 (1.51 per cent) to 1,935.10, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index sank 69.60 (1.56 per cent) to 4,385.20.

The IMF cut its 2014 global growth forecast to 3.3 per cent, down 0.1 percentage point from its July estimate and warned of stagnation in advanced economies.

The German economy ministry reported that industrial output in Europe's largest economy sank by 4.0 per cent in August. The report came a day after statistics office Destatis said that German factory orders had slumped 5.7 per cent in August.

Other investor worries include signs of progress in the jihadist campaign in Syria, Federal Reserve plans to wind down stimulus, and Wednesday's unofficial start of the third-quarter US earnings season in the wake of weakness in Europe.