Updates to mid-afternoon

By Stephen Culp

Feb 25 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks struggled on Tuesday, with the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq touching one-month lows as a dour consumer confidence report put mounting economic uncertainties into sharp relief and prompted a selloff.

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq were both on track to notch their fourth consecutive sessions in the red, while the Dow was modestly higher.

"This is clearly a risk-off day and a continuation of a risk-off month," said Peter Tuz, president of Chase Investment Counsel in Charlottesville, Virginia.

"Many companies are expressing caution about the direction of consumer spending at the moment and today's consumer confidence number bears that out."

The mood of the consumer, who props up about 70% of U.S. GDP, has dimmed considerably in February, according to The Conference Board's consumer confidence index, which registered its steepest monthly drop since August 2021.

Rising consumer uncertainties were laid bare by an 11.3% plunge in the near-term expectations component, well below the level associated with impending recession.

Tuz said the political environment was not helping.

"Headlines have been pretty dramatic ... and as a result consumers and maybe businesses are sitting on their hands to see how things shake out before making major purchasing decisions or other business decisions," Tuz said.

"There are just lots of reasons to put off buying things today, including stocks."

Richmond Federal Reserve President Tom Barkin said on Tuesday that current uncertainties call for a measured, cautious approach to monetary policy.

Interest-rate futures imply the U.S. Federal Reserve will hold its key interest rate steady for the first half of the year, according to data compiled by LSEG.

The CBOE market volatility index .VIX, widely known as the "fear index," spiked to its highest level since January 27.

Bitcoin BTC=, often viewed as a barometer of investor risk appetite, plunged 7.8%.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 73.53 points, or 0.17%, to 43,534.74, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 33.71 points, or 0.56%, to 5,949.54 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC lost 264.89 points, or 1.37%, to 19,022.03.

Among the 11 major sectors in the S&P 500, energy .SPNY was down the most, with consumer staples .SPLRCS enjoying the biggest percentage gains.

Nvidia NVDA.O dropped 2.0% ahead of the chipmaker's much anticipated quarterly earnings report expected after the bell on Wednesday, pulling the Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index down 2.1%.

U.S. officials, in a bid to restrict Beijing's technological capabilities, are aiming to restrict the quantity and types of Nvidia chips that can be exported to China without a license, according to a Bloomberg report.

Bitcoin weakness weighed on crypto stocks. Coinbase COIN.O and MicroStrategy MSTR.O dropped 8.3% and 13.4%, respectively.

Zoom Communications ZM.O slid 9.3% following its disappointing annual revenue forecast.

U.S.-listed shares of Li Auto LI.O jumped 13.4% after the company unveiled its first electric SUV.

Eli Lilly LLY.N rose 2.2% after the drugmaker said it has begun selling higher doses of its weight-loss drug Zepbound in vials in the U.S., at a discount to the injector-pen versions.

Solventum SOLV.N jumped 8.6% after drug manufacturer Thermo Fisher <TMO.N> said it will buy the company's purification and filtration business for about $4.1 billion.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.12-to-1 ratio on the New York Stock Exchange. There were 75 new highs and 146 new lows on the NYSE.

On the Nasdaq, 1,588 stocks rose and 2,784 fell as declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.75-to-1 ratio.

The S&P 500 posted 30 new 52-week highs and seven new lows while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 39 new highs and 277 new lows.

(Reporting by Stephen Culp; Additional reporting by Johann M Cherian in Bengaluru; Editing by Nia Williams)

((stephen.culp@thomsonreuters.com; 646-223-6076;))