US Stocks Fall On Poor Consumer Confidence, Property Value Data

US stocks closed lower on Tuesday, following poor consumer confidence data and a fall in the property value index.

The consumer confidence index fell to 70.2 in March from a revised 71.6 in February. This is an important index considering that consumer spending accounts for 70 percent of the economic activity. However, the fall in confidence index was not so high despite the rise in oil prices, which was offset by improvements in the job market.

The two main parts of the confidence index -- the present situation index and the expectations index -- saw a rise from 46.4 points in February to 51 in March and a fall from 88.4 points in February to 83.0 in March.

Home prices in the US continued to fall in January, according to the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller housing market data. A Case-Shiller 20-City survey found that year-on-year prices were down by 3.8 percent.

These two factors have raised concern that economic recovery may not be as smooth as expected, leading to the slight drop in stocks on Tuesday closing.

Standard & Poor's (S&P) 500 Index shed 3.99 points, or 0.28 percent, to close at 1,412.52.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 43.90 points, or 0.33 percent, to close at 13,197.73. In addition, the Nasdaq Composite Index fell by 2.22 points, or 0.07 percent, to close at 3,120.35.

Meanwhile, shares of Apple hit an all-time high of $616.28. It closed at $614.48, up $7.50 or 1.24 percent, with a market capitalization to $572.92 billion.

In the S&P 500, 10 industries out of seven saw a decline, with financial shares facing the maximum fall of 1 percent.