The S&P 500 fell on Tuesday, while the Nasdaq underperformed for its worst day since March, as market participants sold-off tech and high-growth stocks after U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen commented that interest rates may need to rise to keep the economy from overheating.

"It may be that interest rates will have to rise somewhat to make sure that our economy doesn't overheat," Yellen said during an economic forum presented by The Atlantic on Tuesday. "Even though the additional spending is relatively small relative to the size of the economy, it could cause some very modest increase in interest rates."

"But these are investments our economy needs to be competitive and to be productive," Yellen added. "I think our economy will grow faster because of them."

Here's how the market settled on Tuesday:

S&P 500 Index (SPY  ): -0.67% or -27.90 points to 4,164.76

Dow Jones Industrial Average (DIA  ): +0.06% or +20.26 points to 34,133.49

Nasdaq Composite Index (QQQ  ): -1.88% or -261.62 points to 13,633.50

For Stocks, mega-cap tech stocks like Apple (AAPL  ), Amazon (AMZN  ), Facebook (FB  ), Google (GOOGL  ), Microsoft (MSFT  ) and Tesla (TSLA  ), as well as chipmakers like Nvidia (NVDA  ) and Intel (INTC  ) fell lower as market participants sold off high-growth stocks.

For Sector Performance, sectors on the S&P 500 ended the session mixed, with Materials (XLB  ) and Financials (XLF  ) leading gains, while Consumer Discretionary (XLY  ) and Information Technology (XLK  ) led losses.

For Commodities and Currency, the U.S. Dollar (UUP  ) rose on Tuesday as risk appetite eased and investors feared rising interest rates following Yellen's inflation comments. The dollar index climbed 0.3% higher to 91.278 against six other currencies in afternoon trade. Gold (GLD  ) prices declined against the rising dollar, with spot gold falling by 1% to $1,775.02 per ounce in later trade, while U.S. gold futures settled 1% lower at $1,774.70 per ounce. Crude oil futures rose on Tuesday amid easing public health restrictions in the U.S. and European Union, but the the continued coronavirus outbreak in India kept gains in check. International benchmark Brent Crude (BNO  ) was up 1.48% at $68.50 per ounce, while domestic index West Texas Intermediate (USO  ) settled 1.86% higher at $65.69 each.

For Wednesday, traders will turn their attention to the ADP's employment report for April, as well as quarterly earnings reports from General Motors (GM  ) and Stellantis (STLA  ).