NEW YORK (AFP) - Wall Street stocks Tuesday finished lower following disappointing German economic data and ahead of Wednesday's report on US retail sales.

At the closing bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 8.18 points (0.05 per cent) lower at 16,561.80.

The broad-based S&P 500 dropped 3.12 (0.16 per cent) to 1,933.80, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index declined 12.08 (0.27 per cent) to 4,389.25.

Market sentiment was dulled by a sharp 18.5 point fall in the ZEW German investor confidence index to 8.6 points in August, its lowest level since December 2012.