Wall Street stocks have retreated from record peaks, losing ground after lacklustre US auto sales.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 85.26 points (0.47 per cent) to 18,203.37 on Tuesday.
The broad-based S&P 500 fell 9.61 (0.45 per cent) to 2,107.78, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 28.20 (0.56 per cent) to 4,979.90.
Ford Motor lost 2.4 per cent after reporting a 1.79 per cent drop in February auto sales compared with a year ago. Toyota and Fiat Chrysler’s US unit were among the other firms to report lower-than-expected sales, suggesting shoppers were put off by cold weather.
Michael James, managing director of equity trading at Wedbush Securities, called the market action “a healthy pause” after the surge in recent weeks.
“People are using today to maybe take some profits off the table,” he said.
Chipmaker Micron Technology tumbled 5.1 per cent following a downgrade from Nomura. Fellow chipmakers Qualcomm and Texas Instruments lost 1.7 per cent and 2.3 per cent, respectively.
Several large-capitalisation tech stocks retreated after helping Monday to push the Nasdaq above 5,000 for the first time in 15 years. Microsoft fell 1.4 per cent, Oracle dropped 1.5 per cent and Cisco Systems declined 2.2 per cent.
Consumer electronics retailer Best Buy rose 1.4 per cent after announcing a series of shareholder payouts, including a 21 per cent rise in its dividend and a special one-time dividend of 51 cents per share.
Alibaba fell 2.9 per cent on news that Taiwan demanded the Chinese e-commerce giant exit the island within six months for violating investment restrictions on mainland-controlled firms.
Taiwan officials said Alibaba registered as a foreign company when it was in fact a company from mainland China. The Taiwan crackdown comes as Alibaba contends with charges in its home market that it is selling fake goods.
Citigroup advanced 0.5 per cent after announcing the sale of consumer-lending unit OneMain Financial to Springleaf Holdings for $US4.25 billion ($A5.43 billion). Springleaf, which provides personal loans secured by automobiles and other personal property, jumped 32.1 per cent.
Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury rose to 2.12 per cent from 2.08 per cent Monday, while the 30-year advanced to 2.71 per cent from 2.69 per cent. Bond prices and yields move inversely.
