Stocks ended the day down from multiyear highs after the Federal Reserve's most recent meeting minutes were released. Photo: AP.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average broke a three-session streak of gains, declining 64.94 points, or 0.5%, to 13199.55, one day after notching its highest close in more than four years. The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index lost 5.66 points, or 0.4%, to 1413.38, and the Nasdaq Composite declined 6.13 points, or 0.2%, to 3113.57.
Stocks opened flat and drifted lower. After the Fed statement, the Dow dropped as much as 133 points, but later pared losses. The Fed minutes of its March 13 policy-setting committee meeting showed agreement that the U.S. economic recovery had strengthened moderately, but left investors to question the Fed's appetite for launching additional bond buying, or other programs, to shore up growth and whether the rally can continue without a prime driver.
WSJ's Jon Hilsenrath checks in on Mean Street with details of the minutes from the Fed's March 13 meeting.
"One of the things underpinning the rally has been Fed's easy-money policy, and this could be seen as the Fed moving to close off the liquidity spigot to some extent," said Etai Friedman, head of equity derivatives trading MKM Partners.
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While Fed officials said they are prepared to buy or sell assets "as appropriate to promote a stronger economic recovery," the minutes didn't show widespread agreement for doing so anytime in the immediate future.
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"There's been a near-perfect correlation in equities gains each time the Fed induced more liquidity into the marketplace," said Mark Luschini, chief investment strategist at Janney Montgomery Scott.
Energy and materials stocks led the market lower. Tuesday's biggest blue-chip declin! es were Bank of America, down 19 cents, or 2%, to $9.49, and Hewlett-Packard, off 43 cents, or 1.8%, to 23.45.
Investors remained upbeat on Apple, which climbed 10.69, or 1.7%, to 629.32, an all-time high, after analysts at Piper Jaffray predicted the stock will reach $1,000 in 2014 and become the first company ever to have a $1 trillion market capitalization.
In economic data, orders for factory goods rose in February, a hair short of expectations, on rising demand for machinery, computers and aircraft. U.S. new-vehicle sales in March from the Detroit Three missed the expectations of industry researcher Edmunds.com, though sales figures topped year-earlier levels and were near the best since before the financial crisis.
Ford Motor rose two cents, or 0.2%, to 12.64, after reporting that sales rose 5.1% last month, its strongest March in five years. General Motors fell 1.22, or 4.6%, to 25.54, after posting a 12% jump in March vehicle sales, which fell short of estimates for a 21% rise. Chrysler Group, majority-owned by Fiat, reported its best quarter in four years, as U.S. vehicle sales rose 34% in March from a year earlier.
European markets were broadly lower. The Stoxx Europe 600 fell 1.1% as the Spanish government presents details of its 2012 budget plans, which include deep budget cuts, to Parliament. The focus in the euro zone's sovereign-debt crisis has begun to shift to whether Spain can cut its deficit while battling with a slumping economy and soaring unemployment.
Asian bourses were mostly higher on the back of Monday's gains in U.S. stocks. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 1.3%, snapping ! a four-s ession losing streak. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index added 0.2% after the Reserve Bank of Australia kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average bucked the trend, losing 0.6%.
Crude-oil prices shed 1.2%, to settle at $104.01 a barrel, while gold prices eased 0.5%, to $1,670 a troy ounce. The dollar rose against the euro and yen.
In other corporate news, CVR Energy rose 1.60, or 5.9%, 28.80, after activist investor Carl Icahn said about 55% of the petroleum refining and marketing company's outstanding shares were tendered in support of his bid to buy the company.
Uranium Energy slumped 48 cents, or 12%, 3.38, after the company said it plans to sell 5.56 million shares of its common stock to the public.
Conn's jumped 2.56, or 16%, to 19.05, after the regional consumer-electronics and appliances retailer reported a fiscal fourth-quarter profit, as it benefited from higher average selling prices and set aside less to cover bad loans.
Molson Coors Brewing fell 2.48, or 5.4%, to 43.18, after agreeing to buy StarBev, which operates breweries in Central and Eastern Europe, from CVC Capital Partners for about $3.54 billion.
Write to Chris Dieterich at christopher.dieterich@dowjones.com
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