Wall Street ended mostly lower on Tuesday at the beginning of a holiday-shortened week as investors weighed the likelihood of protracted hawkishness in the Fed's monetary policy against China's relaxation of Covid rules.

Rising Treasury yields put interest rate sensitive growth stocks under pressure, and that's what dragged the tech-heavy Nasdaq down. The S&P 500 was also in negative territory, while the Dow, buoyed by value stocks, ticked up modestly.

The Dow rose just 0.11 percent, to 33,241, the S&P 500 lost 0.4 percent, to 3,829, and the Nasdaq dropped 1.38 percent to 10,353.

With just four trading days remaining in 2022, all three indexes are on course to post their biggest annual loss since 2008. the nadir of the global financial crisis.

US-listed shares of Chinese firms including JD, Alibaba and Pinduoduo gained between 2 percent and 4.2 percent after Beijing's announcement about relaxing travel restrictions.

Meanwhile, shares of Tesla tumbled 11.4 percent after a report indicated it plans to scale back production at its Shanghai plant. Tesla stock has now lost nearly 70 percent of its value this year.

Southwest Airlines fell nearly six percent after harsh weather forced the discount commercial carrier to lead its peers in cancellations. The broader S&P airlines index was off 2.4 percent. (Reuters)