* New home sales data heightens recovery worry

* Financial, tech, materials sectors fall hard

* Dow off 1.2 pct; S&P 500 off 2 pct; Nasdaq off 2.7 pct

* For up-to-the-minute market news, click [STXNEWS/US] (Adds more context on S&P 500's drop, volume)

By Ellis Mnyandu

NEW YORK, Oct 28 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks tumbled in a broad sell-off on Wednesday, sending the benchmark S&P 500 lower for a fourth straight day, after weak data on new home sales heightened concerns about the pace of the economic recovery.

Financials, technology, materials and industrial sectors, which underpinned the market's advance from March, bore the brunt of the slide as investors reassessed their bets.

"The housing data definitely created an additional leg down in the market," said Mike O'Rourke, chief market strategist at institutional brokerage firm BTIG in New York. "A lot of people realize that we're correcting right now and are being cautious."