NEW YORK, New York – Buyers finally took a rest on Wall Street on Tuesday allowing sellers to step in and take charge.

A major sell-off Tuesday brought to an end several consecutive days of record highs for the major indices.

“It’s a risk-off day,” Jay Hatfield, CEO and portfolio manager at InfraCap Advisors in New York told Reuters Tuesday. “After PPI today and with CPI tomorrow, it’s reasonable that we take a pause.”

“Earnings season is nearly over and we’re at all-time highs,” Hatfield added.

“It makes sense that the market would stall and maybe test some support levels.”

“It’s not ‘run for the exit.’ I just don’t see a reason to add exposure now,” Hatfield said.

Stocks did claw back some of their losses towards the close but still ended with solid deficits.

The Nasdaq Composite shed 95.81 points or 0.60 percent to close Tuesday at 15,886.54.

The Dow Jones industrials gave up 112.24 points or 0.31 percent to 36,319.98.

The Standard and Poor’s 500 fell 16.45 points or 0.35 percent to 4,685.25.

The U..S. dollar was steady but mixed in U.S. trading after slipping in Asia. The euro was hovering around 1.1592 approaching the New York close Tuesday. The British pound was sanguine at 1.3561. The Japanese yen steadied at 112.87 after a strong run in Asian trading. The Swiss franc inched up to 0.9109.

The Canadian dollar was unchanged at 1.2443. The Australian dollar dropped to 0.7377. The New Zealand dollar slipped to 0.7129.

European markets were deadly quiet with the Dax in Germany edging down just 0.094 percent, while the Paris-based CAC 40 slipped 0.06 percent.

London’s FTSE 100 depreciated 0.06 percent.

On Asian markets, the Australian All Ordinaries declined 11.60 points or 0.15 percent to 7,756.30, following a sell-off of the nation’s major banks.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 shed 221.59 points o r9,75 percent to 29,285.46.

New Zealand’s benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index dropped 0.10% to 13,028.72.

Chinese shares were down earlier in the day but recovered in late trading. China’s Shanghai Composite edged up 8.37 points or 0.24 percent to 3,507.00.

The Hang Seng in Hong Kong gained 49.36 points or 0.20 percent to 24,813.13.