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.

Dow ends Tuesday's session little changed

The Dow ended Tuesday's trading session relatively flat.

The 30-stock index dropped just 9.13 points, or 0.02%.

Meanwhile, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite added 0.14% and 0.32%, respectively.

— Hakyung Kim

An income-oriented play on rising energy prices is getting love from Bill Gross

Legendary investor Bill Gross recently highlighted master limited partnership pipelines in a post on social media platform X, saying they are "Better than AI."

Master limited partnerships, or MLPs, give investors a way to bet on the exploration, transport and processing of oil and gas. They also have attractive dividend yields, which can surpass 6%.  Indeed, two of the names Gross called out in his post – Plains All American Pipeline and NuStar Energy – offer dividend yields of 6.8% and 7.1%, respectively.

Read more here from CNBC Pro about what's driving the action in oil and gas MLPs and well-liked names in the space.

-Darla Mercado

Market experiencing 'collective concern'

Tuesday's equity pullback indicates the market is questioning if the rally has come too far, too fast, said Yung-Yu Ma, chief investment officer at BMO Wealth Management.

Notably, Nvidia has experienced a choppy month, said Ma. The stock is down nearly 3% Tuesday.

"I think the collective concern the markets experiencing a bit of today is if some of these growth prospects maybe don't come in as quickly, or as strongly as what has been priced in a very short period of time," said Ma.

In addition to Nvidia, several AI infrastructure and data center stocks are struggling Tuesday, he added.

"Stocks that go into the nuts and bolts of what would drive some of the AI revolution; some of those are struggling on the day. So I think it's a question of how we've just gone too far too fast," Ma added.

— Hakyung Kim

12 S&P 500 stocks hit fresh highs, including Alphabet and Freeport-McMoRan

Twelve S&P 500 stocks hit fresh highs on Tuesday. Some of the names include Google-parent Alphabet, which on Tuesday unveiled its Arm-based chips at its Cloud Next conference in Las Vegas. American mining company Freeport-McMoRan gained 2% after Bank of America called it a stock with "blue chip copper exposure."

Here are some of the other names.

• Alphabet C share trading at all-time highs back to the special distribution on April 2, 2014 (when the non-voting share was created, and it began trading on April 3, 2014)
• Alphabet A share trading all-time highs back to its IPO on August 19, 2004
• Amazon.com trading at levels not seen since November 2021
• EOG Resources trading at levels not seen since January 2023
• Emerson Electric trading at all-time highs back through the company's history to 1890
• Freeport-McMoRan trading at levels not seen since August 2011
• Packaging Corp. of America trading at all-time highs back to its IPO in 2000

— Sarah Min, Chris Hayes

Hedge funds sold stocks at the fastest pace in 3 months last week

Hedge funds are dumping stocks and stepping up bearish wagers against equities amid the recent pullback.

The professionals sold global stocks on a net basis for a second straight week last week, driven almost entirely by short sales, according to Goldman Sachs' prime brokerage data. It marked the biggest selling week for hedge funds since mid-January, the data showed.

— Yun Li

Market experiencing 'collective concern'

Tuesday's equity pullback indicates the market is questioning if the rally has come too far, too fast, said Yung-Yu Ma, chief investment officer at BMO Wealth Management.

Notably, Nvidia has experienced a choppy month, said Ma. The stock is down nearly 3% Tuesday.

"I think the collective concern the markets experiencing a bit of today is if some of these growth prospects maybe don't come in as quickly, or as strongly as what has been priced in a very short period of time," said Ma.

In addition to Nvidia, several AI infrastructure and data center stocks are struggling Tuesday, he added.

"Stocks that go into the nuts and bolts of what would drive some of the AI revolution; some of those are struggling on the day. So I think it's a question of how we've just gone too far too fast," Ma added.

— Hakyung Kim

CNBC Pro: How the stock market could react to Wednesday’s inflation report

How much the March consumer price index, due out Wednesday, deviates from projections could spark a major move in stocks, according to JPMorgan. A hotter print could trigger a pullback at a time when many worry that equities have run too far, while a cooler print could spur a stock rally.

Read on for five possible scenarios on how the S&P 500 could trade post CPI.

— Sarah Min

Headwinds still ahead for manufacturing, according to economist

The manufacturing sector, which has suffered amid a high-rate environment, may not be out of the woods yet, according to ADP chief economist Nela Richardson. As stronger-than-expected economic data weighs upon interest rate cut predictions for 2024, manufacturing still has more hurdles to overcome, says Richardson.

"Manufacturing is one of the most rate-sensitive parts of the economy, and higher-for-longer rates could be an obstacle to hiring. But an uptick in inflation would be bad for the sector, too," Richardson said.

To be sure, she noted that "as the labor market underdog, manufacturing might be positioned for a surprise comeback later this year.

— Hakyung Kim

Boeing, Norfolk Southern among Tuesday's biggest movers

Here are the stock's making the biggest moves during midday trading:

• Boeing — The airplane maker was down more than 2% after a New York Times report said regulators were investigating claims from a whistleblower about flaws in the company's 787 Dreamliner.
• Norfolk Southern — The railroad stock gained 1%. Norfolk Southern announced that it reached a $600 million settlement related to its derailment in East Palestine. The company also posted preliminary first-quarter earnings.

Read the full list of companies on the move here.

— Samantha Subin

Financials leads S&P 500 sector losses

The financials sector dropped around 1% Tuesday, making it the S&P 500's biggest sector laggard.

Technology and industrials were the following biggest sector losers for the day, falling 0.7% each.

The only three positive positive sectors were real estate, utilities and consumer staples. Real estate gained 0.7%, while utilities and consumer staples rose less than 0.1%.

— Hakyung Kim

Higher for longer interest rates is the 'key risk' for the Russell 2000 moving forward, Bank of America says

The prospect of interest rates remaining higher for longer without a cut from the Federal Reserve in 2024 could dampen gains for the Russell 2000, according to Bank of America.

"In our view, the longer the first cut gets pushed out, the lower investors' confidence that cuts will happen, making broader Russell 2000 leadership challenging and suggesting greater selectivity in small caps in sectors that may be less impacted, including Industrials/Materials/Energy (which can still benefit from improving GDP/a manufacturing recovery but are less at risk from refinancing)," BofA equity and quantitative strategist Jill Carey Hall wrote in a Tuesday note.

Interest rate cuts are of particular importance for small cap stocks today, Hall added, due to the necessity for refinancing of debt throughout the sector. She says more than 40% of small cap stocks have balance sheet debt abiding by short-term, floating interest rates.

"We estimate a 32% hit to operating earnings over the next five years if rates stay at current levels vs. 24% if rates are cut 3x this year/4x next year (BofA forecast), with the biggest impacts at the sector level in real estate," she said.

— Brian Evans

Boeing’s quarterly airplane deliveries drop to 83 amid safety crisis

Boeing airplane deliveries dropped in the first quarter as the company faces increased scrutiny after a door plug blew out from one of its 737 Max 9 planes midair in January.

The company handed over 83 planes in the three months ended March 31, most of them 737s, compared with 157 in the prior quarter and 130 planes in the year-earlier period. Solely in March, Boeing delivered 29 planes.

Shares dipped 0.1%.

— Leslie Josephs, Sarah Min

Oil prices fall for second day as rally takes a breather

Crude oil futures fell for a second day Tuesday as the recent rally paused while traders took stock of where the conflict in Middle East was heading.

The West Texas Intermediate contract for May delivery fell 67 cents, or 0.78%, to $85.76 a barrel. The June Brent futures contract lost 49 cents, or 0.54%, to $89.89 a barrel.

Crude prices settled lower Monday after Israel reduced its forces in Gaza over the weekend, suggesting the country's military campaign might transition to a more limited phase.

But Barclays head of equity derivatives strategy Stefano Pascale said there are still upside risks to oil prices, particularly from geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, despite the recent rally taking a pause.

"Further melt-up may reawaken inflationary concerns, derailing the equity rally," Pascale told clients in a note Tuesday. 

— Spencer Kimball

Market valuations are currently 'stretched,' says investor

Ahead of Wednesday's consumer price index report, one investor warns that any data outside of Wall Street's expectations could lead to turbulence in the markets.

"Valuations are so stretched right now that anything less than perfection from economic data or any geopolitical noise can create substantial and quick selloffs," said David Bahnsen, chief investment officer at The Bahnsen Group.

To be sure, he added that the current market "touchiness" shouldn't be confused for directional weakness. Despite lower expectations for Federal Reserve rate cuts this year, equities have remains relatively strong this year, Bahnsen added.

— Hakyung Kim

Alphabet shares rise as Google Cloud Next event kicks off

Alphabet shares gained more than 2% ahead of the company's Google Cloud Next Event keynote on Tuesday.

Earlier in the day, the company unveiled new custom Arm-based chips, taking a cue from Microsoft and Amazon, which have undertaken similar strategies.

At the event, Wall Street is bracing for more updates to its Gemini large language model, and AI features to improve workspace productivity, cybersecurity and partnerships. Some notable conference speakers include Palo Alto Networks CEO Nikesh Arora and Anthropic CEO and co-founder Dario Amodei.

— Samantha Subin

Stocks open higher Tuesday

U.S. stocks began Tuesday's trading session in the green.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 92 points, or 0.2%.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite rose 0.3% and 0.5%, respectively.

— Hakyung Kim

Gold hits fresh record high

Gold prices on Tuesday hit a record high for the eighth straight trading session. Gold futures reached a new record at 2,384.5.

— Sarah Min, Gina Francolla

Everyone went to the moon Monday, driving NYSE volume to slowest since Christmas

Blame it on the solar eclipse.

New York Stock Exchange volume sank to just 7.99 billion shares on Monday, the slowest trading day of the year thus far and lowest volume since 6.62 billion shares were traded on Dec. 28, 2023.

Daily NYSE volume is down an average 22.15% over the past five days, lower by 15.33% in the past month and almost 15% in the past six months, according to Factset. Year-to-date NYSE volume is off 8.3%.

Less than a month ago, on March 15, NYSE volume reached 38.1 billion shares, nearly matching the 52-week high of 38.48 billion set last Dec. 15, 2023. Both those came on "triple witching" days, when stock options and index futures expire and send trading volume soaring.

— Scott Schnipper

Stocks making the biggest moves premarket

Check out the companies making headlines before the bell:

• American Eagle Outfitters — Shares popped 4% following an upgrade by JPMorgan to overweight from neutral. The firm cited the retailer's merchandising initiatives and operational changes for the call.
• Freeport-McMoRan — Shares jumped 1.9% after Bank of America upgraded the American mining company to buy from neutral, saying it has "blue chip copper exposure."
• Molson Coors — Shares gained 1.9% after Goldman Sachs upgraded the brewing company to buy, saying the company can benefit as it expands its shelf space in retailers.

Read the full list here.

— Sarah Min

UBS stays bullish on AI stocks

Although U.S. tech stocks have pulled back in recent weeks, with semiconductor companies lagging in particular, UBS says it remains positive on AI-related stocks.

AI demand is showing signs of broadening out beyond GPU computing, the firm wrote in a Tuesday note. New AI application launches and increasing adoption of AI across businesses contributes to the firm's constructive view on the AI theme.

"In our view, the semiconductor and software industries offer the best opportunities for investors over the course of this year," a group of strategists said in the note.

— Hakyung Kim

Upside risks from volatile oil remains, says Barclays

Although the recent volatility in oil prices has eased, several upward pressures still persist, including geopolitical tensions and rising global demand, according to Barclays.

Strategist Stefano Pascale said that a "further melt-up" could re-ignite inflation concerns and weigh upon the equity rally.

"History shows that investors cannot take for granted that the oil/equity correlation will stay positive, especially when worries of a potentially oil-induced inflation rebound remain acute. Additionally, geopolitical risks in the Middle East have shown no signs of abating, in spite of the brief oil rally pause," Pascale wrote in a Tuesday note.

— Hakyung Kim

Europe stocks open lower

European stocks were slightly lower early Tuesday, with the pan-European Stoxx 600 index down by 0.15% at 8:20 a.m. in London.

Major bourses were in the red, with Germany's DAX down 0.4% and France's CAC 40 lower by 0.25%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 nudged 0.08% lower.

— Jenni Reid

Hong Kong's monetary authority considering to deepen some connect schemes with China

Hong Kong's monetary authority is reportedly considering deepening some of the investment connection schemes between the city and mainland China.

Speaking at the HSBC Global Investment Summit in Hong Kong, HKMA Chief Executive Eddie Yue said that there was capacity for greater "south bound" activity into Hong Kong, according to a Reuters report.

Yue told the HSBC Global Investment Summit in Hong Kong there was capacity for greater "southbound" activity from Chinese investors into Hong Kong's financial markets.

The so-called northbound trading in the connect schemes allows offshore investors to buy China-listed products via Hong Kong, while southbound trading is designed for China-based investors to buy into Hong Kong products.

— Reuters

CEO of Shilla Hotels reportedly sells $326 million worth of Samsung shares to cover inheritance tax

Lee Boo Jin, the CEO of South Korean hotel group Shilla Hotels, has sold about 5.2 million shares of electronics giant Samsung Electronics in a $326 million block sale, with the shares priced at 84,100 won apiece, according to Reuters.

A block sale is a large securities transaction at a negotiated price that tends to shield or lessen the impact of the sale on the price of the publicly traded stock.

South Korean media reported that the sale was to cover inheritance tax liabilities after the death of former Samsung chairman Lee Kun-hee.

The younger Lee is the late Lee Kun-hee's eldest daughter, and also the younger sister of Samsung Electronics Executive Chairman Lee Jae-yong.

— Lim Hui Jie, Reuters

Hyundai, Kia team up with India's Exide Energy to produce EV batteries in India

South Korean automakers Hyundai and Kia have signed a memorandum of understanding with Indian battery company Exide Energy for strategic co-operation in India's EV market.

Exide said that both the parties will work together for the development, production and supply of battery cells for Hyundai Motor's electric vehicles in the Indian market.

Hyundai said the move will position the company and Kia as "pioneers in applying domestically produced batteries" in their upcoming EV models in the Indian market.

Hyundai stock was down 0.55% on Tuesday, while Kia shares rose 0.65%.

— Lim Hui Jie

U.S. to award Samsung up to $6.6 billion for Texas expansions: Reuters

The U.S. government plans to offer $6.6 billion in subsidies to South Korea's Samsung Electronics for expanding its chip output in Texas, according to a report by Reuters.

The report said the subsidy will go toward the construction of four facilities in Taylor, including one $17 billion chipmaking plant that Samsung announced in 2021.

The subsidy will also be for investment in an undisclosed location and Samsung will more than double its investment in the U.S. to over $44 billion as part of the deal, according to the report.

Samsung shares were mostly flat on Tuesday.

— Lim Hui Jie, Reuters

Real estate sector outperforms on otherwise tepid day

The S&P 500 ended Monday with a slight decline of 0.04%, but the real estate sector outperformed.

Apartment real estate investment trusts were the strongest names in the sector, with Camden Property Trust up 5.7%. The stock registered its best session since November 2022.

Mid-America Apartment Communities followed with a 4.4% gain, and Equity Residential rounded out the top three names in the sector with a 3.3% jump.

Even with Monday's gains, these apartment REITs are lagging the S&P 500 in 2024.

-Darla Mercado, Ethan Kraft

Gold futures extend 2024 rally to 13.5%, touch intraday record of $2372.50/ounce

June gold futures touched an intraday record $2372.50/ounce before closing at new record of $2351.00, the 15th closing record of the year.

Gold also extended its year-to-date rally to 13.5%, although gold bugs need to remember that on an inflation-adjusted basis, gold's all-time was $3460.77 when Jimmy Carter was president in January, 1980.

Silver futures are higher by 15.5% so far in 2024, while copper futures are up 9.9%. Aluminum is only ahead 3% in 2024, but still touched its highest Monday since February, 2023. Similarly, tin rose to its highest Monday since January, 2023, but has surged 18% in 2024.

All those moves pale beside the rocket ship known as cocoa, which touched an all-time high of $10,443 per metric tonne on Monday -- bringing its 2024 rally to 131.5%.

— Scott Schnipper, Gina Francolla

Stock futures open little changed

Stock futures were little changed on Monday as investors prepare for March inflation data due out Wednesday morning.

Futures tied to the S&P 500 hovered near the flatline. Nasdaq 100 futures added 0.1%, while Dow Jones Industrial Average futures ticked up 4 points, or 0.01%.

— Brian Evans