U.S. stocks on Tuesday finished in negative territory, following more comments from Federal Reserve policy makers that emphasized the central bank’s intention to raise interest rates sooner rather than later. A drop in oil prices along with a stronger dollar also weighed on the main equity benchmarks. The S&P 500 index ended down 4 points, or 0.2%, at 2,176. Among the S&P 500’s 10 sectors, the only one ending higher was the financial sector, which tends to benefit from heightened prospects of higher interest rates. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 49 points, or 0.3%, at 18,454. Shares of banks, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. led the gains, while shares of Boeing Co. topped blue-chip decliners. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite Index lost 9 points, or 0.2%, to end at 5,223. Among high-profile stock movers, shares of Apple Inc. fell 0.8% after European Union antitrust officials ordered the Irish government to recover as much as 13 billion euros ($14.5 billion) in taxes from the Cupertino, Calif.-based iPhone maker.
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