Bank shares led a late-session sell-off Tuesday, ending four consecutive sessions of gains on Wall Street, as investors considered mixed reports on U.S. inflation and manufacturing. The beginning of the Federal Reserve's two-day policy meeting on interest rates and a stronger U.S. dollar also were in focus. In economic news, U.S. wholesale prices jumped a bigger-than-expected 1.8 percent in November after rising 0.3 percent the previous month. Last month's gain was because of a spike in energy prices. Industrial production at U.S. factories, utilities, and mines rose a bigger-than-expected 0.8 percent in November. Industrial capacity utilization rose to 71.3 percent last month from 70.6 percent in October. The last Fed meeting of the year started Tuesday with a decision on interest rates due Wednesday. The central-bank policymakers are widely expected to hold a key interest rate unchanged at historic lows near zero percent, where the rate has been for a year. The U.S. dollar gained Tuesday against other major currencies as worries about debt-ridden Greece caused investors to pull money out of the euro and put it in the dollar. Light sweet crude oil for January delivery rose $1.18 to $70.69 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold for February delivery fell 80 cents to $1,123 an ounce. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 49.05, or 0.5 percent, to 10,452.00. Bank of America, J.P. Morgan Chase, and Travelers were among the big financial shares limiting the index. IBM and Procter & Gamble were the index's other big losers. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 6.18, or 0.55 percent, to 1,107.93. The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index fell 11.05, or 0.5 percent, to 2,201.05. The New York Stock Exchange composite index fell 45.05 to 7,141.44. The American Stock Exchange composite index fell 14.81 to 1,776.79. And the Russell 2000 index fell 3.48 to 606.31.
