NEW YORK: US stocks closed slightly down on Tuesday after rallying for three days, in the wake of mixed European trading and news of tentative progress in regaining control of Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant.
"Continued progress by Japan to control a nuclear reactor on the brink of a meltdown is being offset by festering Middle East uncertainty," Charles Schwab & Co analysts said. At the closing bell the Dow Jones Industrial Average of blue chip stocks was lower by 17.90 points (0.15 percent) at 12,018.63, after leaping 178 points on Monday. The broader S&P 500 pared 4.61 (0.36 percent) to 1,293.77, while the tech-focused Nasdaq Composite lost 8.22 points (0.31 percent) to 2,683.87.
Retail-pharmacy chain owner Walgreen saw its shares lose 6.6 percent on profit-taking after reporting a 10.5 percent increase in second quarter earnings from a year before. Amazon lost 1.2 percent after it was sued by Apple (+0.6 percent) for allegedly violating the trademark of Apple's App Store.
AT&T was 0.6 percent lower as regulatory- related questions were being raised over its planned takeover of T-Mobile USA, a $39 billion deal that would make it the country's largest cell phone carrier. Rival Verizon, the current market leader, meanwhile traded 1.3 percent higher.
Bond prices were mixed, the yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 3.33 percent against 3.32 percent late Monday. The 30 year note fell to 4.44 percent from 4.45 percent.
Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.
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