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Stock market news live updates: Stocks edge lower amid China COVID concerns, economic data

U.S. stocks edged lower Tuesday as Wall Street continued a sluggish start to the week, with investors continuing to monitor China's COVID policy and look ahead for Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s scheduled speech.

The S&P 500 (^GSPC) was down 0.2%, while the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) ticked lower by 0.6%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) was virtually flat for the day.

The slump came after all three stock indexes finished lower Monday, as protests against China’s strict COVID policies had far-reaching consequences across global markets. The S&P 500 declined more than 1%, the first time it did so on a post-Thanksgiving Monday since 2008, according to Bespoke Investment Group. The U.S. dollar weakened against a basket of peers, following days of gains, as the yuan dipped.

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In oil markets Tuesday, the global benchmark Brent crude climbed 2.6% to trade above $86 a barrel. WTI crude oil rose about 2% on Tuesday, closing just below $79 a barrel after reaching lows for the year early Monday.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose to 3.755% from 3.701% on Monday.

Monday’s sell-off accelerated following remarks of two Federal Reserve officials, who stressed the central bank's rate-hiking campaign will continue. New York Fed President John Williams on Monday said there was still "more work to do" to bring down inflation.

"Stronger demand for labor, stronger demand in the economy than I previously thought, and then somewhat higher underlying inflation, suggest a modestly higher path for policy relative to September," Williams told reporters Monday after an event hosted by the Economic Club of New York.

At another event, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard said "we've got a ways to go to get restrictive.” Bullard also pointed out that the Fed’s target policy rates need to rise to at least a range between 5.00% and 5.25% from the current level of 3.75%-4.00% to be "sufficiently restrictive" to curb inflation.

All eyes now turn to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s speech on Wednesday at the Brookings Institution, the last speech before the Fed's next rate setting meeting in mid-December. However, "it is unclear what more Powell could say that we have not heard from recent Fedspeakers," wrote Andrew Tyler, head of US Market Intelligence at J.P. Morgan. "While a Fed pivot is currently off the table, investors looking for a pause are unlikely to find that support from Powell this week."

Meanwhile, investors are also bracing for a jam-packed week of economic data. On Tuesday, data from S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller National Home Price Index showed that U.S. home prices fell 1% in September from August, posting a third consecutive monthly decline. The slowdown comes as mortgage rates have surged to near 7% from lows near 3% in just 10 months.

The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index, the latest indicator of the strength of the U.S. economy, fell to 100.2 in November from a revised 102.2 reading in October, while economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for a drop to 100.

In corporate news, Apple (AAPL) fell more than 2% Tuesday following turmoil at the world’s largest iPhone factory in Zhengzhou. The unrest in China further sparked fears of a shortfall of close to 6 million iPhone Pro units this year, Bloomberg reported.

Apple also found itself at the wrong end of Elon Musk's ire, as the billionaire owner of Twitter is picking a fight with the tech giant. Musk has targeted the company over its ad spending on Twitter and raised the prospect of a bigger battle over Twitter’s availability on the Apple App Store.

Meanwhile in the US, Apple also faces headwinds heading into next year, Oppenheimer analyst Martin Yang told Yahoo Finance Live on Tuesday.

Also in single-stock news, shares of United Parcel Service (UPS) rose 2.8% as the Biden administration calls on Congress to act and pass legislation that would avert a rail strike. UPS is the largest rail customer.

Shares of AMC Networks (AMCX) fell more than 5% on Tuesday as CEO Christina Spade left the company after less than three months in the role and the company announced it would cut 20% of its staff.

Dani Romero is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter @daniromerotv

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