NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Stocks slumped Tuesday, with investors backing out of equities amid worries about rising interest rates, falling tech stocks and slower corporate earnings growth.

The Nasdaq composite (down 19.40 to 2,262.96, Charts) lost around 0.9 percent. The Dow Jones industrial average (down 46.26 to 11,069.06, Charts) and the Standard & Poor's 500 (down 4.20 to 1,283.04, Charts) index both saw smaller declines.

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Treasury prices were little changed, and the dollar gained versus other major currencies.

U.S. light crude oil jumped $1.22 to settle at $61.10 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, a gain of 2 percent that set the commodity above $60 a barrel, a relevant psychological level.

"Oil up two percent and Wal-Mart lowering expectations set a negative tone pretty much from the beginning of the day," said Timothy Ghriskey, chief investment officer at Solaris Asset Management.

The rebound in oil prices -- after last week's declines -- raised concerns about inflation and higher interest rates. Such worries increased following the strong morning release of the January index of leading economic indicators and the afternoon release of the minutes from the last Federal Reserve monetary policy meeting.

The minutes from the Jan. 31 policy meeting -- released around 2 p.m. ET -- showed the central bankers believed that they are near the end of the rate-hiking campaign, but that future hikes will depend on data and inflation expectations.

The minutes may have been seen by investors as having a slightly more hawkish tone than recent Fed speak, Ghriskey said. However, they were similar to what new Fed chairman Ben Bernanke said last week.

"They are basically saying we'll have another 25 basis point hike in March and maybe one in May," he added.

There are 100 basis points in one percentage point. The Fed funds rate, a key overnight bank lending rate, currently stands at 4.5 percent.

Stocks may have also been vulnerable Tuesday in the aftermath of a big rally last week that pushed the Dow industrials to a 4-1/2 year high and also lifted the other major gauges.

Oil will remain in focus Wednesday. However, investors will also look to the January consumer price index (CPI) due in the morning. CPI is expected to have risen 0.5 percent, after having fallen 0.1 percent in December. The so-called "core" CPI is expected to have risen 0.2 percent after rising 0.2 percent in December.

"A hefty rise at the core rate would upset stocks investors," said Peter Cardillo, chief market analyst at S.W. Bach & Co., particularly after last week's surprise jump in the producer price index (PPI).

Among stock movers, techs were particularly weak.

Chip stocks slumped, dragging down the Philadelphia Semiconductor (down 11.64 to 523.77, Charts) index by 2.2 percent.

Chips helped feed a big rally last week. In addition, brokerage Citigroup downgraded the sector Tuesday.

Micron Technology (down $0.57 to $16.08, Research), KLA-Tencor (down $1.53 to $51.00, Research) and Linear Technology (down $0.60 to $36.44, Research) were the big chip decliners on the session.

Other big tech stocks slid too, including Dow components Hewlett Packard (down $1.56 to $32.51, Research) and Microsoft (down $0.16 to $26.54, Research).

Wal-Mart Stores (down $0.36 to $45.74, Research) slipped after the leading retailer issued new fiscal year earnings guidance that was short of forecasts. That overshadowed the company's otherwise strong fourth-quarter earnings. (Full story).

Fellow Dow 30 retailer Home Depot (up $0.01 to $41.87, Research) was little changed, giving back early gains after reporting quarterly earnings that rose from a year earlier and topped forecasts.

Honeywell (down $0.76 to $41.42, Research) said it has received a contract from Airbus to supply power for its new long-range aircraft. The deal could be worth up to $4 billion. Nonetheless, Honeywell shares lost 1.8 percent.

Oil stocks benefited from the jump in oil prices. The Philadelphia Oil Service (Charts) sector index gained 3.8 percent.

Market breadth was negative. On the New York Stock Exchange, losers topped winners nine to eight on volume of 1.54 billion shares. On the Nasdaq, decliners topped advancers three to two on volume of 1.77 billion shares.

Dell's disappointing outlook sent stocks moderately lower Friday, at the end of an otherwise strong week for equities. Financial markets were closed Monday for the President's Day holiday.

Treasury prices were little changed, with the yield on the 10-year note at 4.56 percent. However, the 30-year bond slipped, raising the corresponding yield.

In currency trading, the dollar was little changed versus the euro and gained versus the yen.

COMEX gold for April delivery added $2 to settle at $556.60 an ounce.

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