Despite Apple’s Big Show, Rate Concerns Drive Markets Lower

U.S. markets were in the red Tuesday on continuing concerns around the timing of the Federal Reserve rate hikes.

Stocks rallied off their lows in the afternoon as Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) released its new lineup of iPhones and the Apple Watch, but losses accelerated in the session’s final hour. After gaining almost 5% on the release news, Apple shares ended the day lower closing at $97.99, down $.036 or 0.38% on just over triple the stock’s average monthly trade volume.

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Crude Oil was Tuesday’s one gainer, rising 0.1% to settle at $92.75 per barrel, up nine cents on the session. Gold prices followed the equity markets, sliding $5.80 to settle at $1248.5 per ounce, a loss of 0.46%.

The major indexes were all in the red.  After Monday’s declines, the Dow Industrials fell 97.55 points Tuesday to close at 17,013.87, down 0.57% (marking its first back-to-back losses in more than five weeks).

The broader S&P 500 index shed 13.10 points, losing 0.65% to close at 1,988.44.

The NASDAQ Composite, which had rallied into positive territory on Apple’s news, ended the session lower at 4,552.29, a loss of 40 points or 0.87%  The tech heavy NASDAQ 100, which hit a new intraday high, also ended lower at 4,061.88, down 33.58 points or 0.82%.

Small cap stocks were also under pressure, with the largest percent loss on the day with the Russell 2000 sliding 13.81 points to close at 1,158.5, down 1.18%, a 0.43% loss.  The FOX 50 dropped 9.87 points to close at 1,399.88, down 0.70%.