us stocks finished lower on tuesday as investors awaited a friday update from the federal reserve on its potential path to higher rates the dow jones industrial average djia shed about 154 points or 05 ending near 32908 while the sp 500 index spx closed 02 lower with both benchmarks ending lower for a third session in a row the nasdaq composite comp was virtually flat even though the benchmark 10year treasury yield rose to 3053 its highest since july 8 according to dow jones market data based on 3 pm eastern levels wall streets main focus remains a speech from fed chairman jerome powell due friday but on tuesday a significant slowing of new home sales in july and other signs of weaker us economic data also weighed on sentiment a bright spot for the sp 500 however was the energy sector which gained 36 on tuesday after us crude prices cl00 clv22 settled higher at 9374 a barrel