US equities displayed divergent performance on Tuesday, with the Nasdaq Composite etching another historic peak while other major indices retreated. The tech-heavy Nasdaq climbed 37.47 points (0.18%) to settle at 20,677.80, marking its latest all-time high. Conversely, the Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 436.36 points (0.98%) to 44,023.29, and the S&P 500 retreated 24.80 points (0.40%) to 6,243.76.

Semiconductor stocks spearheaded the advance, with Nvidia surging 4.04% and AMD vaulting over 6%. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) gained more than 3%, while ASML and Broadcom rose over 2% and 1% respectively. Intel and NXP Semiconductors bucked the sector trend, sliding more than 1%.

Mega-cap tech stocks mostly edged higher. Microsoft advanced 0.53%, Amazon added 0.29%, Alphabet rose 0.24%, and Apple inched up 0.23%. Facebook retreated 1.46% while Tesla declined 1.93%.

Banking stocks broadly weakened. Wells Fargo plunged over 5%, Bank of America slid beyond 2%, and both Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley lost more than 1%. JPMorgan Chase dipped 0.83%, though Citigroup defied the trend with a 3% gain.

Energy shares slumped across the board. Occidental Petroleum plummeted over 5%, Schlumberger slid beyond 3%, and ConocoPhillips retreated more than 1%. ExxonMobil and Chevron declined 0.89% and 0.63% respectively.

Airline stocks descended collectively. Delta Air Lines sank over 4%, United Airlines dropped beyond 2%, while American Airlines and Southwest Airlines both fell more than 1%. Boeing edged down 0.24%.

China-focused equities outperformed, with the Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index soaring 2.76%. Baidu and Alibaba both surged over 8%, Bilibili jumped beyond 7%, and JD.com climbed more than 4%. Pinduoduo, NetEase, and NIO each gained over 2%.

Economic data revealed US consumer prices rose 2.7% year-over-year in June, exceeding forecasts and marking the steepest annual increase since February. Core inflation, excluding food and energy, advanced 2.9% annually.

European markets retreated uniformly. London's FTSE 100 dropped 0.66%, Paris's CAC 40 slipped 0.54%, and Frankfurt's DAX declined 0.42%.

Commodities faced headwinds as August WTI crude dipped 0.69% to $66.52/barrel, while September Brent crude fell 0.72% to $68.71. Precious metals weakened, with COMEX gold futures down 0.74% to $3,334.20/ounce and silver tumbling 1.89% to $38.01. The US Dollar Index strengthened 0.55% to 98.616.