The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed just below the flatline Tuesday as investors struggled to regain some positive momentum ahead of the release of key U.S. inflation data.
The 30-stock index slipped 9.13 points, or 0.02%, at 38,883.67. At its session low, the Dow was down 320.71 points, or 0.82%. The S&P 500 notched a gain of 0.14% to end at 5,209.91, while the Nasdaq Composite added 0.32% and closed at 16,306.64.
Chipmaker Nvidia dropped 2%. A couple of mega-cap tech names were also negative for the day, with Meta and Netflix down about 0.5% and 1.6%, respectively.
The March consumer price index report is slated for release Wednesday at 8:30 a.m. ET. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones expect inflation to have increased 0.3% in March on a month-over-month basis.
Investors will keep a close eye on the data as they search for clues on when the Federal Reserve will start cutting rates. Right now, fed funds futures trading data suggests a roughly 42% probability that rates will hold steady in June, according to the CME Group's FedWatch tool.
"The market has been treading water over the last week or so, worried about the Fed and its commitment to lowering interest rates," said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Research. "A stronger-than-expected CPI reading, at both the headline and the core level, could end up triggering a catalyst for correction."
Jamie Cox, Harris Financial Group managing partner, noted that Tuesday's selloff may also be a seasonal reaction a week ahead of Tax Day.
"There's a lot of people selling assets to pay taxes. This happens every year. So there's sort of a confluence of those [multiple] factors," he said.