Stocks Retreat; Dow Loses 69

Stocks fell at the open of trade on Tuesday as Wall Street focused on Chinese growth worries after a BHP Billiton BHP executive said that demand for iron ore will flatten as China's economy cools. Profit taking also likely contributed to the market decline. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell around 69 points to close at 13,170. The widely watched blue-chip index traded in a range between 13,123 and 13,238. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF SPY shed 0.29% to close at $140.44, well off of its worst levels for the day. Volume was light with just 121.5 million SPY shares trading hands compared to a 3-month daily average of 142.6 million. The PowerShares QQQ Trust ETF QQQ, which tracks the performance of the Nasdaq 100, added 0.18% and closed at $67.11. Strength in large-cap tech names such as Apple AAPL and Oracle ORCL helped the Nasdaq 100 outperform on the session. Crude oil pulled back as the U.S. Dollar strengthened. NYMEX crude futures fell 2.30% to $105.60 while ICE Brent contracts lost 1.25% to $124.14. The United States Oil Fund ETF USO lost 2.08% and closed at $40.43. Precious metals also lost ground amid the cautious trading atmosphere. COMEX gold futures fell 1.14% to $1,648.30 while silver futures lost 2.99% to $31.97. The heavily traded SPDR Gold Trust ETF GLD registered a decline of 0.90% to $160.13 on the day. Treasuries rose as risk assets were sold off. The iShares Barclays 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF TLT gained 0.40% to $110.54. The yield on the 10-Year Note fell 1.8 basis points to 2.36%. The U.S. Dollar was moderately stronger on Tuesday, but finished off of its best levels of the day. The PowerShares DB US Dollar Index Bullish ETF UUP, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of foreign currencies, added 0.23% to $22.10. The closely watched EUR/USD pair was last trading at $1.3230.