U.S. Stock Market Closes Lower; Dow Loses 59 Points

The euro hit a two-month low on Tuesday, which helped to curb risk appetite on Wall Street. Stocks rose in early trade after gapping down at the open, but a late day sell-off sent the major averages out firmly in negative territory. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 59 points to close at 12,756. The widely watched blue-chip index traded in a range between 12,748 and 12,898. The Dow has now lost more than 4 percent in the last month.

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSE:SPY) lost 0.34 percent on the session to close at $137.79. Volume was a little lighter than normal with around 119.7 million SPY shares trading hands compared to a three-month daily average of roughly 123 million. The S&P 500 is down a little less than four percent over the last month.

The PowerShares QQQ Trust ETF (NASDAQ:QQQ), which tracks the performance of the Nasdaq 100, fell 0.69 percent to $62.98. In after hours trading, however, the QQQ has risen 0.32 percent after strong earnings from technology giant Cisco (NASDAQ:CSCO).

Crude oil followed stocks lower on the day. NYMEX crude futures, the U.S. benchmark, had lost 0.49 percent to $85.15 at last check. Brent crude contracts shed 0.91 percent and were last trading at $108.08. The United States Oil Fund ETF (NYSE:USO) closed the equity session down 0.57 percent to $31.41.

Precious metals were also slightly lower on Tuesday. COMEX gold futures fell 0.36 percent to $1,724.70. Silver futures shed 0.24 percent to $32.45. The heavily traded SPDR Gold Trust ETF (NYSE:GLD) lost 0.20 percent and closed at $167.10 in New York Stock Exchange trading.

The losses in the stock market fueled a small rally in Treasury bonds. The iShares Barclays 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (NYSE:TLT) added 0.33 percent to $126.61. The TLT has gained a little more than 2 percent over the last month. The yield on the 10-Year Note fell 1.5 basis points to 1.59 percent.

The U.S. dollar was slightly higher on the day. The PowerShares DB US Dollar Index Bullish ETF (NYSE:UUP), which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of foreign currencies, closed up 0.09 percent to $22.21. The closely watched EUR/USD pair was last trading at $1.2705.