NEW YORK: Wall Street stocks retreated Wednesday amid worries about Italian banks and disappointing earnings from FedEx weighing on sentiment.
US stocks were in the red most of the session, after European stocks were again pressured by uncertainty about troubled Italian bank Monte dei Paschi di Siena.
The Dow pulled back from its assault on 20,000, falling 0.2 percent to 19,941.96, the only the fourth day in December when the index has closed lower.
The broad-based S&P 500 shed 0.3 percent to 2,265.18, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index lost 0.2 percent at 5,471.43.
“I just think the market has had a big run up and it’s just consolidating,” said Peter Cardillo of First Standard Financial.
FedEx dropped 3.3 percent after second-quarter earnings came in below expectations. Analysts said profits missed forecasts due to the hiring of drivers and others spending.
Twitter tumbled 4.7 percent on news chief technology officer Adam Messinger was stepping down, the latest departure as the microblogging service struggles to boost readership.
