Stocks sink as oil falls; Nasdaq loses 1.1%

Stocks on Wall Street fell Wednesday even as financial markets around the globe generally continued to exhibit resilience after the deadly terror attacks in Brussels.

U.S. stocks opened lower and stayed there, with losses deepening in the afternoon as investors kept watch over oil prices, which traded about 3% lower. The Dow Jones industrial average, which fell 41 points Tuesday, ended down 80, while the broader Standard & Poor's 500 stock index fell 0.6% and the Nasdaq composite stumbled 1.1%.

Still, for the most part markets are behaving and reacting to the latest terror strike just as they have in more recent attacks, including last year's attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, Calif.

The general reaction of investors following terror strikes — a new template, perhaps — is horror and fear, a kneejerk reaction to pare risk and sell stocks, followed by a rebound after investors evaluate the economic impact of the terrorism-related event, which most often has little or long-lasting negative fallout on global business.

Terror attacks don't shock stocks for long, history shows

U.S. benchmark crude fell $1.27 to $40.18 a barrel.

Shares in Europe, which Tuesday shrugged off the terror hits at transporation hubs in the capital of Brussels with a loss of just 0.15%, were mostly higher Wednesday as Germany's DAX index rose 0.3% and London's FTSE 100 index gained 0.1%. France's CAC 40 fell 0.2%.

"When these attacks happen, the human tragedy is fully recognized and sadly mourned," says Erik Davidson, chief investment officer at Wells Fargo Private Bank. "However, the capital markets look beyond the tragedy to discern any substantive economic impact or market disruption. In the case of Brussels, as it was with San Bernardino and Paris, investors do not seem to see anything of significant alarm. This is especially true given backdrop of reasonable (stock market) valuations which creates an element of a “shock absorber” for exogenous events as painful as they may be."

Stocks were mixed in Asia overnight. Japan's Nikkei 225 closed down 0.3%. Stocks in mainland China's Shanghai composite rose 0.4%.

Adam Shell on Twitter: @adamshell.