U.S. stocks fell for a second day on Tuesday as investors acted cautiously to a series of mixed economic data on housing, inflation and productivity, Xinhua reported.
The U.S. Commerce Department said Tuesday that construction of new homes and apartments jumped 17.2 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 532,000 units, better than the 500,000-unit pace that economists had expected.
The reading jumped last month by the largest amount in three months, providing an encouraging sign that the deep housing recession was beginning to bottom out.
Meanwhile, the Labor Department said Tuesday that the Producer Price Index increased by a seasonally adjusted 0.2 percent from April. That's below analysts' expectations of a 0.6 percent rise.
However, the Federal Reserve's report on Tuesday showed industrial production tumbled a larger-than-expected 1.1 percent in May, the deepest since a 1.8 percent plunge in March. Economists had expected a decline of 0.9 percent last month.
Energy shares erased early gains and lost ground as oil prices retreated in the afternoon trading. Crude futures dropped 15 cents to settle at 70.47 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
The Dow Jones fell 107.46, or 1.25 percent, to 8,504.67. Broader indexes also moved lower. The Standard & Poor's 500 index dropped 11.75, or 1.27 percent, to 911.97; and the Nasdaq lost 20. 20, or 1.11 percent, to 1,796.18.