Closing Bell

A stronger dollar and a surprise interest rate hike in China helped push stocks sharply lower Tuesday. The Dow Jones industrial average fell below 11,000 for the first time in a little more than a week. It was the largest drop the stock market since early August. Disappointing news from Apple and IBM pushed the technology-heavy Nasdaq down about 2 percent. The dollar rose 1.7 percent against a basket of currencies, while gold fell 2 percent. For weeks, traders have been anticipating that the Federal Reserve will expand a program to buy bonds in hopes of encouraging spending. That has led many investors to buy stocks despite questions about the strength of the economic recovery.