News

US stocks fell across the board on Tuesday, with the Dow logging its biggest losing streak in 46 years.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ( ^DJI ) finished the session down roughly 0.6%, registering its ninth straight day of losses. The last 9-day losing streak for the Dow was Feb. 1978. Prior to that, the index suffered an 11-day losing streak in 1974 and another in 1971.

The other major indexes dropped in tandem on Tuesday, with the benchmark S&P 500 ( ^GSPC ) falling around 0.4% and the Nasdaq Composite ( ^IXIC ) losing about 0.3% after the tech-heavy index closed at a record high on Monday.

Fed policymakers kicked off their final gathering of the year earlier in the trading day, amid almost total conviction that a 0.25% rate cut is coming on Wednesday. Some on Wall Street suspect it could be the last cut for some time, as inflation proves persistent . Given that, the focus is on clues to the path of rates next year — and in January, in particular.

In the meantime, investors assessed a November reading on retail sales for insight into the health of the consumer and the economy. Sales rose 0.7%, faster than the 0.6% month-on-month gain expected, amid strong holiday spending.

Eyes are also on Nvidia ( NVDA ), down more than 10% from its November record close. The chip giant's shares closed down over 1%.

Elsewhere, bitcoin ( BTC-USD ) prices extended their rally to briefly break above $108,000 a token. Prices retreated to just above $106,500 a coin.