NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are moving lower in Tuesday afternoon trading, erasing gains from a rally a day earlier. Utilities and consumer goods companies fell the most. Consolidated Edison fell 2.5 percent and Kraft Heinz lost 3.7 percent. The losses were broad. Nine of the 10 sectors of the Standard and Poor’s 500 index are lower.
KEEPING SCORE: The Dow Jones industrial average fell 179 points, or 1 percent, to 17,532 at 2:17 p.m. Eastern time. The S&P 500 index fell 19 points, or 1 percent, to 2,046. The Nasdaq composite index fell 53 points, or 1.1 percent, to 4,721.
LOSING LENDER: LendingClub plunged another 8 percent after the Department of Justice opened an investigation. The company forced out its founder last week after an internal review found irregularities with the way loans were sold. The stock dropped 32 cents to $3.61. The stock traded as high as $25 a share in late 2014, shortly after the company went public.
MUSIC MOVE: Pandora Media rose 53 cents, or 5.4 percent, to $10.51 after hedge fund Corvex Management raised its stake and began advocating for a sale of the streaming music company. Corvex said that putting the company on the block is the best answer to rising competition from Spotify and Apple.
INFLATION WATCH: U.S. consumer prices rose 0.4 percent in April compared with the month before, the largest amount in more than three years. Compared with the year before, overall prices rose 1.1 percent. The Federal Reserve will weigh the inflation figures when it meets in June to decide whether to increase interest rates.
MAKING MORE THINGS: U.S. industrial production posted the biggest increase in April since November 2014 after dropping the previous two months. Industrial output, which includes output at factories, mines and utilities, rose 0.7 percent from March. Still, production is modest. Factories are operating at 75.3 percent of capacity, well below their long-run average.
THE QUOTE: “We’ve got an economy in slow-down mode, with an increase in inflation,” said James Abate, chief investment officer at Centre Funds. “That is the worst possible situation.”
MORE HOMES: Builders ramped up construction of new homes in April, suggesting the market remains solid despite sluggish economic growth. Housing starts climbed 6.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.17 million units. Beazer Homes rose nearly 3 percent.
EUROPE’S DAY: France’s CAC 40 fell 0.3 percent, while Germany’s DAX shed 0.6 percent. Britain’s FTSE 100 gained 0.3 percent.
ASIA’S DAY: Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 rose 1.1 percent as the yen continued to weaken, a plus for Japanese exporters. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 added 0.7 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 1.2 percent.
ENERGY: U.S. crude rose 27 cents to $47.99 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, used to price international oils, inched up two cents to $48.95 a barrel in London.
BONDS AND CURRENCIES: U.S. government bond prices didn’t move much. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note held steady at 1.75 percent. The dollar rose to 109.16 yen from 108.98 yen and the euro fell to $1.1316 from $1.1320.
METALS: Precious and industrial metals futures closed mostly higher. Gold rose $2.70 to $1,276.90 an ounce and silver gained 10 cents to $17.25 an ounce. Copper was flat at $2.09 a pound.
AP Business Writer Yuri Kageyama contributed from Tokyo.