U.S. stocks closed lower Tuesday, as geopolitical concerns overshadowed better-than-expected reports on housing and consumer confidence.
In U.S. economic news, the Case-Shiller index of home prices rose 10.8 percent in April from the year earlier, and 1.1 percent from the prior month. New-home sales for May jumped to a six-year high in May, up 18.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 504,000 units. The number, better than the 440,000 forecast by economists, comes a day after a report that had existing-home sales rising more than expected last month. The consumer confidence index for June came in at 85.2, beating estimates of 83.
The dollar edged higher against the currencies of major U.S. trading partners. Light sweet crude oil for July delivery fell 14 cents to $106.03 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold futures rose $2.90 to $1,321.30 an ounce.
The Dow Jones industrial average ended down 0.7 percent. The broader Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 0.6 percent. The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index dropped 0.4 percent.