U.S. stocks finished mostly lower on Tuesday, with only the tech-heavy Nasdaq clinging to gains, after the January consumer-price index showed inflation slowed in January, but not as quickly as some economists had expected. The S&P 500 SPX, -0.03% closed marginally lower, shedding 1.6 points to end at 4,136.13, according to FactSet data. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -0.46% shed 156.66 points, or 0.5%, to 34,089.27.
The Nasdaq Composite COMP, +0.57% gained 68.36 points, or 0.6%, to 11,960.15. The January CPI showed the cost of living rising 6.4% year-over-year last month, down from 6.5% in December, but hotter than a median forecast for 6.2%, according to a survey of economists by the Wall Street Journal. Prices increased by 0.5% in January on a month-over-month basis, compared with a slower gain of 0.1% in December. But economists had expected a monthly gain of 0.4%.