US stocks finished down on Tuesday, a day after the S&P and Dow hit records, and the Nasdaq retreated with technology stocks. Soft auto sales numbers and Iran commentary also gave some investors pause after a strong run-up for major indexes in February. Traders were also waiting for a slew of economic data later this week, culminating with the monthly payrolls report.
"We just came a little too far fast. It made sense to have little bit of a pullback here," said Brian Lazorishak, portfolio manager at Chase Investment Counsel in Charlottesville, Virginia. "Given the level of optimism, the overbought condition, we wouldn't be surprised to see at least a couple of days of consolidation," he said.
Technology stocks fell as investors took profits a day after the Nasdaq hit the 5,000 milestone for the first time since the peak of the dot.com bubble in March 2000. Microsoft Corp weighed most on the Nasdaq and S&P 500 with an 1.4 percent drop to $43.28, followed by a 2.2 percent decline in shares of Cisco Systems, which gave back most of Monday's gains. Semiconductor chips were some of the worst-hit, with the Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index closing off 1.94 percent after a February gain of more than 12 percent. The S&P 500 technology sector finished down 0.8 percent
The biggest percentage decliners in the S&P 500 were Micron Technology, down 5 percent to $29.66, and Applied Materials, which fell 4.5 percent to $24.48. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 85.26 points, or 0.47 percent, to 18,203.37, the S&P 500 lost 9.61 points, or 0.45 percent, to 2,107.78 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 28.20 points, or 0.56 percent, to 4,979.90. For the second year in a row, tough winter weather slowed US vehicle sales in February, with several automakers missing analysts' projections. US-listed Fiat Chrysler shares fell 3.3 percent to $15.31 while Ford Motor declined 2.4 percent to $16.17.
Adding to investors' caution, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned US President Barack Obama against accepting a nuclear deal with Iran. His comments caused some investors to pull back but helped boost oil prices. Utilities and energy were the only two of ten S&P 500 sectors that ended the session higher. About 6.3 billion shares changed hands on US exchanges, below the 6.5 billion average for the last five sessions, according to BATS Global Markets.
Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by 1,810 to 1,249, for a 1.45-to-1 ratio; on the Nasdaq, 1,784 issues fell and 948 advanced, for a 1.88-to-1 ratio favouring decliners. The benchmark S&P 500 posted 11 new 52-week highs and 1 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 70 new highs and 32 new lows.