Sharp drop in U.S. stocks blamed on Trump's Muslim ban

Jan 31 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks extended losses in late morning trade on Tuesday, weighed down by technology and industrial stocks, amid disappointing earnings and weak consumer confidence data.

The selling comes a day after Wall Street suffered its worst day of 2017, as investors turned wary about the consequences of President Donald Trump's isolationist policies such as curbing travel to the United States.

The S&P 500 technology sector led Tuesday's decline, down 0.9 percent. Microsoft and Apple were the biggest drags.

"Many technology CEOs have come out publicly against Trump's immigration policies and it certainly hurts the sector's access to highly qualified labor," said Brant Houston, portfolio manager at Atlantic Trust in Denver, Colorado.

Apple is scheduled to report after markets close on Tuesday.

A clutch of disappointing quarterly earnings across sectors added to the dour mood.

Package delivery company UPS dropped 6.2 percent to $109.71 after posting a quarterly loss and issuing a full-year profit forecast that missed expectations. The stock weighed the most on the S&P industrials sector.

Under Armour was the biggest percentage loser on the index. The sportswear maker's gloomy sales and forecast also dragged down bigger rival and Dow component Nike 1.3 percent.

A report from the Conference Board showed the consumer confidence index fell by a bigger-than-expected margin in January after hitting a 15-year high the previous month.

The healthcare sector rose 0.6 percent after Trump called for easing regulations for drugmakers, lowering taxes and prices of medicines.

At 10:56 a.m. ET (1556 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 154.55 points, or 0.77 percent, at 19,816.58, the S&P 500 was down 11.28 points, or 0.49 percent, at 2,269.62 and the Nasdaq Composite was down 28.47 points, or 0.51 percent, at 5,585.24.

Six of the 11 major S&P sectors were lower.

The dollar slumped 0.9 percent against a basket of six major currencies on Tuesday and was on track its worst month since March 2016. Trump's top trade adviser Peter Navarro accused Germany of using a "grossly undervalued" euro to gain a competitive advantage.