NEW YORK: Wall Street stocks retreated early Wednesday following declines by Tesla and Google parent Alphabet after earnings results as market watchers worried over excessive equity prices.

Tesla dropped more than 10 percent in opening trade after missing earnings estimates as CEO Elon Musk touted progress on robotic and artificial intelligence technology.

Meanwhile Alphabet fell 5.2 percent after topping analyst estimates in general but reporting disappointing figures for its Youtube business.

About 10 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.3 percent at 40,219.35.

Megacaps buoy Wall St ahead of big tech earnings

The broad-based S&P 500 fell 1.1 percent to 5,497.58, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index tumbled 1.8 percent to 17,680.65.

Briefing.com analyst Patrick O’Hare pointed to “consolidation interest stemming from valuation angst” as a factor in the early losses following the rise in major indices so far in 2024.

Wednesday’s calendar includes new home sales and earnings from Ford.