The Dow industrials turned negative on Tuesday while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq pared gains on concerns that banks' repayment of government bailout money may hurt the economic recovery.

Today we have the announcement of the repayment of TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program). Partly what that's telling you is that banks are spending all their money paying back the government and not doing what that money was intended to do, which was to stimulate the economy and lend that money, said Marc Pado, U.S. market strategist at Cantor Fitzgerald & Co.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> dropped 1.06 points, or 0.01 percent, to 8,763.43. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> gained 1.42 points, or 0.15 percent, to 940.56. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> rose 9.53 points, or 0.52 percent, to 1,851.93.