Markets retreat following long rally led by tech firms

Wall Street capped a choppy day of trading Tuesday with stock indexes closing mostly lower after coming within striking distance of matching the market’s longest winning streak of the year.

The S&P 500 fell 0.2% or 6.23 points to 3,962.71. Earlier, it had been up 0.3%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 127.51 points, or 0.4%, to 32,825.95. The Nasdaq bucked the trend, benefiting from the rally in technology stocks. The techheavy index gained 11.86 points, or 0.1%, to 13,471.57.

The big technology names that rose sharply in 2020 were among the gainers Tuesday. Apple rose 1.6%, Google’s parent company added 1.4% and Facebook rose 2%. Tech stocks have moved in tandem with the bond market, so as some bond yields ticked lower on Tuesday, it moved technology stocks in the opposite direction.

Small company stocks lagged the broader market. The Russell 2000 index fell 40.65 points, or 1.7%, to 2,319.52.

Investors weighed new economic data Tuesday that showed Americans cut back on spending last month, partly due to bad weather in parts of the country that kept shoppers away from stores, and partly due to their December and January stimulus payments running out.

Retail sales fell a seasonally adjusted 3% in February from the month before, the U.S. Commerce Department said Tuesday. February’s drop followed soaring sales in January as people spent $600 stimulus checks sent at the end of last year. In fact, the Commerce Department revised its January number upwards to 7.6% from its previously reported rise of 5.3%.

Meanwhile severe winter weather pushed industrial production down a sharp 2.2% in February, reflecting a big decline in factory output.