Stocks Finish Lower; Nasdaq Snaps Streak Of Record Closes

The Nasdaq Composite on Tuesday ended a streak of three straight sessions of all-time closing highs and the other stock benchmarks pulled back from Monday's records as investors fretted about hawkish statements from Federal Reserve officials. William Dudley, president of the New York Federal Reserve Bank, made comments that put the possibility of a rate increase by the U.S. central bank on the table. Dudley's comments came as the dollar had been falling throughout the session, with the yen strengthening sharply against the buck. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 83.03 points, or 0.5%, at 18,552.02, while the S&P 500 index dropped 12 points, or 0.6%, to 2,178.15, and the Nasdaq Composite Index finished off 34.90 points, or 0.7%, at 5,227.11, ending three straight days of all-time closing highs for the tech-heavy index. Moves for equities came as investors weighed consumer-price index data that showed U.S. inflation remains tepid.

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