Dow falls 100 points Tuesday as traders brace for key U.S. inflation report: Live updates

The Dow Jones Industrial Average pulled back Tuesday as investors struggled to regain some positive momentum ahead of the release of key U.S. inflation data.

The 30-stock index traded 148 points lower, or 0.4%. At its session low, the Dow was down 320.71 points, or 0.8%. The S&P 500 declined 0.3%, while the Nasdaq Composite pulled back 0.1%.

Chipmaker Nvidia dropped 3%. Other mega-cap tech names were also negative for the day, with Meta and Netflix down more than 1% each.

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, it’s a coin toss whether they’ll decrease rates 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 there’s sort of a confluence of those [multiple] factors,” Cox said.