Wall Street's rally stalled after stocks climbed back within 2% of their all-time high.
The S&P 500 slipped 0.3% Wednesday, marking its first drop in four days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended little changed, and the Nasdaq composite lost 0.5%.
The action was stronger in the bond market, where Treasury yields eased after a report showed inflation ticked up by less last month than economists expected. That raised expectations for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates later this year. Markets didn't react much to the conclusion of two days of trade talks between the U.S. and China.
On Wednesday:
The S&P 500 fell 16.57 points, or 0.3%, to 6,022.24.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.10 points, or less than 0.1%, to 42,865.77.
The Nasdaq composite fell 99.11 points, or 0.5%, to 19,615.88.
The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 8.17 points, or 0.4%, to 2,148.23.