Stocks fell on Tuesday, giving up earlier gains, as investors worried about rising interest rates and reacted to comments on a conference call from bellwether Caterpillar that hinted economic growth may slow later in the year.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed 424.56 points lower at 24,024.13 after rising as much as 131 points shortly after the open of trading. The 30-stock index dropped 751.21 points from its session high all the way down to its lows of the day.

The fell 1.3 percent to 2,634.56. The Nasdaq composite declined 1.7 percent to 7,007.35 as shares of Facebook, Amazon, Alphabet and Netflix all dropped more than 3.5 percent.

"Investors have high expectations for earnings," said Kate Warne, investment strategist at Edward Jones. "At the same time, a lot of people are asking: Does it get better from here?"

"I think that's why we're seeing such shifts in the market,"Warne said.

Caterpillar reported earnings and revenue that beat expectations, sending the stock higher initially. But the industrial giant's shares rolled over later in the day, falling 6.2 percent. Caterpillar CFO Bradley Halverson said during a conference call that the company's outlook assumed that the first quarter would be "the high watermark for the year."

The construction equipment maker is a barometer for the state of the economy and the overall market. Caterpillar's stock has a 0.81 correlation with the Dow over the last six months, according to Kensho. A correlation of 1 would mean the two move in lockstep with each other.

3M reported quarterly earnings that met analyst expectations, but the stock dropped about 6.83 percent after the company lowered its full-year profit forecast. Alphabet, meanwhile, topped bottom-line estimates but its stock declined more than 4.5 percent.