NEW YORK, New York - U.S. stocks attempted to rally on Tuesday after a 3-day losing streak.

It was not to be as sellers cornered the market towards the close.

"We're in a market where you just can't hold on to any rallies," Paul Hickey of Bespoke Investment Group told CNBC's "TechCheck" on Tuesday. "It's not surprising given the overall trends we've seen over the last several days and I think we're just going to see more of this going forward."

"At this point, it's just fear-based selling," Jake Dollarhide, chief executive officer of Longbow Asset Management in Tulsa, Oklahoma told Reuters news agency Tuesday.

"It can't just be the Fed's going to raise rates to stave off inflation, because we've seen that before," he said. "Instead, investors are worried about everything from rates and inflation to the war in Ukraine, supply chain problems, and China's COVID-19 lockdowns," Dollarhide said.

Technology stocks did best Tuesday with the Nasdaq Composite gaining 114.42 points or 0.98 percent to close at 11,737.67. The benchmark tech index however had been ahead more than two percent earlier in the day.

The Dow Jones industrials fell 84.96 points or 0.26 percent to 32,160.74.

The Standard and Poor's 500 climbed 9.82 points or 0.25 percent to 4,001.06.

On foreign exchange markets, the U.S. dollar edged lower earlier, however, late in the day dollar bulls emerged to send the currency higher.

The euro which had rallied to 1.0585 earlier wilted to 1.0529 approaching the New York close Tuesday.

The British pound dipped to 1.2306. The Japanese yen inched down to 130.42.

The Canadian dollar weakened to 1.3026. The Australian dollar declined to 0.6934. The New Zealand dollar dived to 0.6285.

On overseas equity markets, the Dax in Germany rose 1.15 percent. The Paris-based CAC 40 added 0.51 percent. In London, the FTSE 100 was up 0.37 percent.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 closed out the day with a 152.24 points or 0.58 percent loss at 26,167.10.

The Australian All Ordinaries, after being substantially lower, recovered somewhat to close Tuesday down 72.70 points or 0.99 percent at 7,285.20,

In New Zealand, the S&P/NZX 50 declined 152.25 points or 1.34 percent to 11,229.45.

The Kospi Composite in Seoul fell 14.25 points or 0.25 percent to 2,596.56.

The Hang Seng in Hong Kong closed down 368.27 points or 1.84 percent at 19,633.69.

China's Shanghai Composite, going against the trend, rose 31.70 points or 1.06 percent, to close Tuesday at 3,035.84.