major us stock indexes wiped out earlier gains and closed at their session lows on tuesday as big tech stocks reversed lower while data showing housing starts dropped sharply last month also weighed on sentiment the dow jones industrial average ended the session 26713 points or 08 to 3406066 the sp 500 fell 09 to 412783 the techheavy nasdaq composite erased a 08 gain and slid 06 to 1330364 as apple amazon facebook and alphabet all rolled over and fell more than 1 on the day housing starts tumbled 95 to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1569 million units last month the commerce department said on tuesday economists polled by dow jones had forecast starts falling to a rate of 17 million units in april investors also digested betterthanexpected earnings from big retailers walmart shares jumped more than 2 after reporting strong grocery sales and ecommerce growth for the quarter macys posted a surprise profit and hiked its fullyear outlook but its shares erased earlier gains and dipped 04 home depot reported earnings of 386 a share for the previous quarter much higher than the 308 expected by analysts polled by refinitiv net sales surged 327 more than expected the stock ended the session 1 lower growthheavy stocks have remained under pressure in recent sessions as investors fret over whether a pop in inflation will entrench or blow over as the federal reserve expects inflation above the feds 2 target for a sustained period could prompt the central bank to tighten monetary policy and dampen stocks that outperform the market when interest rates are low growth may be peaking but its not a bullmarket breaker yet said lauren goodwin economist and portfolio strategist at new york life investments data cant stay at peak levels forever and tailwinds from fiscal stimulus are likely to wind down this can complicate the environment for investors history suggests that when the economy starts to slow market returns tend to slow with it investors blamed that angst for the sp 500s dismal performance last week which saw the broad market index fall 4 through midweek amid heightened inflation fears the broad equity benchmark eventually rebounded and ended the week down 14 all three benchmarks posted their worst week since february 26 the feds minutes from its last meeting which will be released wednesday could offer some clues on policymakers thinking on inflation elsewhere the firstquarter earnings season is wrapping up with more than 90 of the sp 500 companies having reported their results so far 86 of sp 500 companies have reported a positive eps surprise which would mark the highest percentage of positive earnings surprises since 2008 when factset began tracking this metric