The U.S. stock market's S&P 500 index fell on Tuesday as renewed trade tensions weighed on Wall Street sentiment.

Trade friction pressures drove the equity market lower.

"Given that tariff/trade issues have been the primary negative factor for stock market performance this year, we will all be watching developments in this area very closely," said Matt Maley of Miller Tabak.

Despite the decline in the benchmark U.S. stock index, agricultural commodity traders ADM and Bunge saw their shares rise. A measure tracking major bank performance surged after financial giants reported solid earnings results, kicking off the earnings season.

Earlier in the session, stocks had moved higher as Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's remarks reinforced market expectations for an October rate cut amid labor market weakness.

JPMorgan's Michael Feroli believes Powell's comments "strongly confirmed" market expectations for a Fed rate cut at the next meeting. Evercore's Krishna Guha noted that Powell's assessment of the dual mandate outlook remained largely unchanged, confirming the Fed's likely move to ease policy in October.

At the close of U.S. trading, the S&P 500 index declined 0.16% to 6,644.31 points;

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.44% to 46,270.46 points;

The Nasdaq Composite fell 0.76% to 22,521.7 points.