By Richard Leong
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stock prices fell on Tuesday, with the Dow Jones industrial average and the Standard & Poor's 500 pulling back from record highs, while the dollar fell from an 11-year peak versus a basket of currencies.
Investors are awaiting evidence the global economy is improving before adding to equity holdings, analysts said. A stronger-than-expected 2.9 percent rise in German retail sales in January helped lift European shares near seven-year highs.
Data showed Canada's economy grew faster than expected in late 2014 and the Swiss economy slowed less than forecast.
The outlook on the United States turned less favourable as poor winter weather hurt vehicle sales again.
"The air gets a little thin up at new highs and you need a driver to keep it going, and one of the things we are not getting as a driver today is solid auto sales," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Wunderlich Securities in New York.
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In early afternoon trading, the Dow decreased 95.47 points, or 0.52 percent, to 18,193.16, the S&P 500 fell 12 points, or 0.57 percent, to 2,105.39 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 37.69 points, or 0.75 percent, to 4,970.41.
On Monday, the Nasdaq broke above 5,000 mark for the first time in 15 years, while the Dow and S&P 500 set record closing highs. [.N]
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index shed 0.98 percent at 1,545.35, below Monday's seven-year high. [.EU]
Tokyo's Nikkei <.N225> dipped 0.06 percent as traders booked gains that propelled the index to 15-year highs on Monday. [.T]
The MSCI world equity index , which tracks shares in 45 nations, slipped 0.5 percent, to 432.02.
The dollar retreated from an 11-year high against a group of six currencies after a top Japanese economic official said the dollar could not sustain more gains. The dollar index was last down 0.23 percent at 95.238, while the greenback was down 0.45 percent at 119.59 yen [FRX/]
The euro firmed against the dollar but weakened versus the yen before details on Thursday from the European Central Bank on its 1.1 trillion euro bond-purchase program. It was down 0.13 percent at $1.1199 and 0.32 percent lower at 133.99 yen .
With the impending start of the ECB's effort to jump-start the region's economy, peripheral euro zone yields hovered near record lows. U.S. Treasuries were under pressure, with benchmark yields rising to 2.096 percent due to higher-yielding corporate supply, led by a $21 billion deal from Actavis . [US/] [GVD/EUR] [USC/]
Oil rose in choppy trading as fighting in Libya and signs of stronger global demand outweighed persistent concerns about a supply glut. [O/R]
Brent crude was last up 95 cents or 1.6 percent at $60.49 a barrel. U.S. crude was last up 90 cents or 1.81 percent at $50.49.
Spot gold fell $1.75 or 0.15 percent to $1,204.90 an ounce, erasing earlier gains. [GOL/]
(Additional reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak in New York; Marius Zaharia, Francesco Canepa and Anirban Nag in London; Editing by Catherine Evans, Dan Grebler and James Dalgleish)