Major U.S. stock indices closed Tuesday’s trading in the steepest decline since mid-December on weak quarterly reports from major retailers.

• The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 2.06% to 33129.59 points.
• Standard & Poor’s 500 fell 2% to 3,997.34 points.
• The U.S. stock index futures Nasdaq Composite fell by 2.5% to 11492.3 points.

The negative impact on investor sentiment also saw a rise in government bond yields to near annual highs amid expectations that strong economic data will encourage the Federal Reserve to maintain higher interest rates for longer.

Meanwhile, it became known on Tuesday that sales in the U.S. secondary housing market in January fell 0.7% from the previous month to 4 million homes on an annualized basis.

The decline was recorded at the end of the twelfth consecutive month, which has not happened since the beginning of the calculations in 1999. It is now at its lowest level since October 2010.

“While the stock market has shown an impressive recovery this year, it is still trying to adjust to the new reality in which the Fed is unlikely to take a pause and remain focused on fighting inflation, which means investors need to prepare for an extended period of higher rates,” said BMO Family Office investment director Carol Schleif.

We previously reported that stock market futures will show strong results in the first half of the year.