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U.S. stocks lost ground Tuesday, as investors were concerned that the Federal Reserve may begin hiking interest rates sooner than expected.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 97.55 points, or 0.57 percent, to 17,013.87. The S&P 500 fell 13.10 points, or 0.65 percent, to 1,988.44. The Nasdaq Composite Index slipped 40.00 points, or 0.87 percent, to 4,552.29.
All of the S&P 500's ten sectors fell, with utilities, telecom and financials leading the decline.
The market sentiment was dampened by media reports that the U.S. central bank could change the wording which says there will be a considerable time from the end of the Fed's asset purchasing programs to the first rate increase.
Some encouraging U.S. economic data released recently have raised speculations that the Fed may soon hike interest rates. However, sluggish job market growth still remains one of the biggest concerns.
Moreover, a report from Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco on Monday said low market volatility may indicate that investors expect a more accommodative monetary policy than the Fed does.
Wall Street wiped out most of its earlier losses shortly after the release of new Apple products, but soon resumed deep drops.
The tech giant unveiled in the early afternoon two new iPhones with larger screens, iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, as well as a wearable device, at an event held in Cupertino, California. The company's shares reversed earlier gains to close slight lower, down 0.38 percent to 97.99 dollars apiece.
On the economic front, U.S. small business optimism bumped up in August. The small business optimism index rose 0.4 point to 96. 1 in the past month, making it the second highest reading since October 2007, said the National Federation of Independent Business.
Moreover, U.S. job openings in July came out at 4.7 million, little changed from June, said the U.S. Labor Department.
China's e-commerce giant Alibaba moved to Boston in the U.S. state of Massachusetts on the second day of its global road show after meeting with potential investors in New York Monday. If all goes as scheduled, the company will price its shares on Sept. 18 and begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "BABA" the following day.
The CBOE Volatility Index jumped 6.64 percent to end at 13.50 Tuesday.
In other markets, the U.S. dollar continued rising against most major currencies Tuesday as investors increased bets that the Fed would lift interest rates by the middle of next year.
In late New York trading, the euro rose to 1.2920 dollars from 1.2908 dollars of the previous session. The dollar bought 106.34 Japanese yen, higher than 105.88 yen of the previous session.
U.S. crude price inched up before the Energy Information Administration's report on crude inventories of the country scheduled for Wednesday.
Light, sweet crude for October delivery moved up 9 cents to settle at 92.75 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for October delivery gained 1.04 dollars to close at 99.16 dollars a barrel.
Gold futures on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange fell even as the U.S. equities retreated.
The most active gold contract for December delivery lost 5.8 dollars, or 0.46 percent, to settle at 1,248.5 dollars per ounce.
