US stocks rose slightly on Tuesday following four sessions of declines, as investors worried about everything from holiday shopping and current-quarter earnings to recession fears and a surprise tweak to the Bank of Japan's monetary policy.

All three major indexes were up by a fraction of a percent for the day. The Dow Jones added 0.28 percent, to 32,849, the S&P 500 gained 0.1 percent, to 3,821, and the Nasdaq added 0.01 percent., to 10,547.

Fears of the impact of rising interest rates on the US economy have weighed heavily on Wall Street after the Federal Reserve struck a hawkish tone at its policy meeting last week.

Adding to those worries, the BOJ made a surprise tweak to its bond yield control that allows long-term interest rates to rise more, a move aimed at easing some of the costs of prolonged monetary stimulus.

US Treasury prices fell following the BOJ's move, with the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield rising to a three-week high of 3.71 percent

Meanwhile, there was grim data on the US housing market as higher mortgage rates continued to depress activity in November.

Among the S&P 500's 11 major sectors, energy was the main driver – it was up 1.5 percent, as crude oil prices rose. Materials and financials also gained, while consumer discretionary was down more than 1 percent.

Tesla shares were down 8 percent after at least three brokerages cut the electric vehicle maker's target price on growing concerns of demand weakness and risk from Chief Executive Elon Musk's Twitter distraction. (Reuters)