us stocks closed sharply lower tuesday after signs of a strong labor market sparked fears the federal reserve may need to be more aggressive in cooling the economy as it aims to tame hot inflation the dow jones industrial average djia finished around 1 lower while the sp 500 spx and the technologyladen nasdaq composite comp each slid around 11 according to preliminary factset data the labor department said tuesday that us job openings rose to 112 million in july that was the first rise in four months while the number of people quitting remained high even as it edged down slightly in july