Wall Street Slips for a Second Day as Record-Setting Rally Pauses

U.S. stocks edged down on Wednesday, giving the market's powerful run a breather, at least for now. The S&P 500 lost 0.3% for the second consecutive day, a modest decline that left it at 6,637.97 after a drop of 18.95 points.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 171.50 points, or 0.4%, to 46,121.28. The Nasdaq composite slid 0.4%, or 75.62 points, to 22,497.86. All three indexes remain close to the record highs they reached on Monday.

The pullback follows a sharp climb since the market bottomed in April. Investors have been encouraged by hopes that President Donald Trump's tariffs will not derail global trade and that the Federal Reserve will lower interest rates several times to support the economy. The advance has been large enough to prompt worries that stock prices have grown too expensive, especially if the Fed delivers fewer rate cuts than traders anticipate.

Micron Technology showed how high expectations have become. Its shares dropped 2.8% even though the computer memory maker reported better profit and revenue for its latest quarter than analysts had predicted, and issued a profit forecast for the current quarter that far exceeded expectations. Such results would normally lift a stock, but Micron had already surged 97.7% so far this year.

Freeport-McMoRan was among the market's biggest decliners, sinking 17%. The miner said it now expects third-quarter copper sales to be 4% lower than it previously forecast, and gold sales to come in roughly 6% below earlier projections.

At the other end of the board, Lithium Americas soared 95.8% after reports that the U.S. government is weighing an ownership stake in the Canadian company, which is developing a lithium project in Nevada with General Motors. The Vancouver-based company said it is in talks with the Department of Energy and GM about drawing on a previously announced $2.26 billion government loan. It added that the department is making "incremental requests" that would attach more conditions before the first draw. The government has already taken a 10% stake in Intel, the struggling chipmaker, under Trump.

Homebuilders also advanced after a report showed new-home sales in August were stronger than economists forecast, with an unexpected acceleration. Lennar rose 2%, while PulteGroup and D.R. Horton each gained 0.7%.

Overseas, markets were mixed across Europe and Asia. Hong Kong's Hang Seng jumped 1.4%, and France's CAC 40 fell 0.6%, two of the larger moves. In the bond market, the 10-year Treasury yield edged up to 4.14% from 4.12% late Tuesday.