The US markets ended in red on Tuesday as some traders looked to cash in on the recent strength in the markets. The major averages have rallied to new record highs in recent days following former President Donald Trump's decisive victory in last week's presidential election. Meanwhile, traders seemed reluctant to make more significant moves ahead of the release of closely watched economic data in the coming days. A highly anticipated report on consumer price inflation is due to be released on Wednesday, while reports on producer price inflation, retail sales and industrial production are likely to attract attention later in the week.
On the sectoral front, housing stocks moved sharply lower on the day, with the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index plunging by 2.7 percent. Substantial weakness was also visible among steel stocks, as reflected by the 2.6 percent nosedive by the NYSE Arca Steel Index. Computer hardware stocks also showed a significant move to the downside, dragging the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index down by 2.0 percent. Telecom, biotechnology and gold stocks also saw considerable weakness, while software stocks showed a notable move to the upside.
Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 382.15 points or 0.86 percent to 43,910.98, Nasdaq dropped 17.36 points or 0.09 percent to 19,281.4 and S&P 500 was down by 17.36 points or 0.29 percent to 5,983.99.