Updates to market close

By Johann M Cherian, Sukriti Gupta and Carolina Mandl

Jan 7 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks closed down on Tuesday after a batch of upbeat economic data raised concerns that an inflation rebound could slow down the Federal Reserve's pace of monetary policy easing.

Stocks gave up early gains after a Labor Department report showed job openings unexpectedly increased in November, while a separate report said services sector activity accelerated in December with a measure tracking input prices surging to a near two-year high.

"Markets are starting to recognize that they thought we were in the eighth inning of the inflation fight but now it's going to be higher for longer," said Joe Mazzola, head of trading and derivatives strategist at Charles Schwab.

Benchmark 10-year Treasury yields hit an eight-month high at 4.677% after the data pointed to a strong economy.

"Both of those things potentially have inflationary impacts and, as a result, yields have increased," said Mike Dickson, head of research at Horizon Investments, referring to the economic data. "That's definitely weighing on stocks."

Signs of continued resilience in the economy have pushed back expectations on when the central bank can deliver its first interest rate reduction this year. Traders now see the next cut more likely in June and the Fed staying on hold for the rest of 2025, according to the CME Group's FedWatch tool.

Concerns over the impact of possible tariffs by the incoming Trump administration on consumer prices have also been on investors' minds. "A mix of solid growth and a new wave of inflationary pressure from tariffs means the Fed will likely switch from cutting interest rates at every decision ... to pausing in between rate cuts in 2025," Bill Adams, chief economist for Comerica Bank, said in a note.

According to preliminary data, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 66.20 points, or 1.11%, to end at 5,909.54 points, while the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC lost 375.77 points, or 1.89%, to 19,489.21. The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 179.06 points, or 0.42%, to 42,527.50.

Higher yields pushed technology stocks .SPLRCT lower. Shares of AI bellwether Nvidia NVDA.O fell sharply.

Most of the 11 S&P 500 sectors declined.

The main focus of the week is the key non-farm payrolls data, along with minutes from the Fed's December meeting.

In the previous session, the S&P 500 .SPX and the Nasdaq .IXIC closed short of one-week highs on uncertainty after President-elect Donald Trump denied a report that his team was exploring less aggressive tariff policies.

Tesla TSLA.O shares fell sharply after BofA Global Research downgraded the stock to "neutral" from "buy."

Micron Technology MU.O rose after Nvidia boss Jensen Huang said the chipmaker was providing memory for the AI bellwether's GeForce RTX 50 Blackwell family of gaming chips.

Citigroup C.N rose on bullish coverage from Truist Securities, while Bank of America BAC.N climbed after positive ratings from at least three brokerages. Some big banks are expected to report quarterly earnings in the next week.

Markets will be closed on Thursday for a national day of mourning to mark the death of former President Jimmy Carter.

(Reporting by Carolina Mandl in New YorkAdditional reporting by Johann M Cherian and Sukriti Gupta in BengaluruEditing by Maju Samuel and Matthew Lewis)

((johann.mcherian@thomsonreuters.com;))