NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Stocks rose Tuesday, though the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced only slightly as higher consumer inflation triggered fears of a Federal Reserve hike sooner than later.  

The S&P 500 was up 0.08%, the Dow rose 0.03%, and the Nasdaq climbed 0.26%.

The Nasdaq rebounded, led by a reversal in health care stocks, after the index spent all of Monday in the red. Gilead Sciences (GILD) - Get Report, Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX) - Get Report and Alexion (ALXN) - Get Report led the index higher after losses a day earlier. 

Consumer prices climbed 0.2% in February, reversing a 0.7% decline a month earlier, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said Monday. The increase in the headline number was the first in four months and came in as expected. Core CPI, excluding energy and food items, rose 0.2%, double what economists were expecting.

The inflation increase was seen as encouragement to the Fed to pull the trigger on a rate hike sooner than expected.

"As the dampening effect from the stronger dollar fades in the second half of this year, we would expect to see core inflation gradually strengthen," said Paul Ashworth, chief U.S. economist at Capital Economics."By the first half of 2016, we anticipate that it will climb back to the Fed's 2% target, prompting a more aggressive monetary tightening that either Fed officials or the markets currently expect."

U.S. new home sales in February came in far higher than expected, despite the dampening effect of winter weather. Home sales climbed to their highest level since February 2008, up 7.8% month of month to an annual rate of 539,000. Economists had expected 460,000. 

The U.S. dollar rebounded from an earlier drop, though still showed signs of weakness, giving a boost to crude prices and improving the prospects of multinational companies. The greenback fell from 12-year highs last week after the Fed suggested a slower-than-expected rate hike timeline. 

West Texas Intermediate crude added 0.2% to $47.54 a barrel on the back of currency weakness. Crude prices were under pressure earlier on news that production in Saudi Arabia was close to an all-time high, pumping around 10 million barrels a day.

Also hurting oil prices, China's industrial activity continued to slow. In March, the factory sector in the world's second-largest economy fell to an 11-month low of 49.2, according to HSBC's flash China manufacturing index. Weakness prompted calls for fresh rounds of stimulus.

Facebook (FB) - Get Report shares were 1.2% higher after TheNew York Times said the social network is exploring ways to host media sites' content directly in its newsfeed.

Amazon (AMZN) - Get Report shares were on watch after its Twitch subsidiary warned its users' accounts may have been hacked with personal information potentially leaked.

Google (GOOGL) - Get Report shares were higherafter the company announced Morgan Stanley (MS) - Get ReportChief Financial Officer Ruth Porat would take over its top finance spot.

Chesapeake Energy (CHK) - Get Report jumped more than 1% after activist investor Carl Icahn upped his stake in the company to just under 11% from around 10% in December.

Abiomed (ABMD) - Get Report surged nearly 13% after the Federal Drug Administration approved the biotech's Impella 2.5 System, a miniature blood pump device for the heart.

HD Supply Holdings (HDS) - Get Report gained 3.8% even after warning February sales were hit hard by winter weather. Several branch and distribution centers were closed over the second half of the month. Fourth-quarter earnings beat estimates.