Investing.com -- Stocks on U.S. equities markets were slightly down on Tuesday falling back to near lows for the year, as increases in consumer prices failed to outweigh worries of an interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve later this year.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed lower for the second straight day, falling 0.58% or 104.90 to 18,011.14. The NASDAQ Composite index and the S&P 500 Composite index also retreated for the second consecutive session after a strong close at the end of trading last week.
The S&P 500 fell 12.92 points or 0.61% to 2,091.50, as the Utilities, Oil & Gas and Financials sectors lagged on Tuesday. All 10 sectors closed in the red on the day. Gas prices for February rose 2.4%, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, one month after the prices dove 18.7% in January. The increases last month ended a streak of seven straight months of declines.
Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL), meanwhile, gained 11.38 or 2.04% to 570.19 after the Silicon Valley multinational Internet services corporation named former Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) CFO Ruth Portat to the same position. The announcement came roughly two weeks Patrick Pichette left the spot to enter retirement. The gains did not offset a rough day on the NASDAQ, which dropped 16.24 or 0.32% to 4,994.73.
The top performer on the Dow was McDonald's Corporation (NYSE:MCD), which rose 0.77 or 0.78% to 99.39. The worst performer was Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX), which fell 1.41% or 1.49 to 104.43.
The biggest gainer on the NASDAQ was Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX), which rose 14.14 or 3.34% to 439.19 after Barclays (LONDON:BARC) raised its price target on the California-based internet media streaming provider to $450 a share, up from $400. Higher pricing by Netflix for it movie and TV streaming enabled the upgrade, according to Barclays. The worst performer, meanwhile, was Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) which dropped 1.64 or 2.77% to 57.48 after posting lower than expected quarterly earnings on Monday.
The top performer on the S&P 500 was First Solar Inc . (NASDAQ:FSLR), after the Tempe, Arizona-based solar panel maker announced the launch of a new service to operate and maintain power plants for other companies. First Solar gained 1.98 or 3.27% to close at 62.56.
The worst performer was Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc (NYSE:DO), which fell 1.32 or 4.75% to 26.48 after FBR&Co. lowered their price target to $30, down from $40 a share. Several other analysts have downgraded stocks in the global offshore oil and gas drilling company this month.