Stocks lost momentum today, forcing the Dow Jones Industrial Average to pause in its trek towards 10,000, after several big companies issued disappointing earnings forecasts.
At the close on Wall Street, the Dow was down 21.09 points - or by 0.2 per cent - at 9,876.35. The blue-chip index had come within 42 points of 10,000 in early trading before giving up ground.
Disappointing news from Microsoft and software-maker Oracle led to broad selling in technology stocks.
"Most people think we need the tech stocks to push the market through 10,000," said Robert Freedman, executive vice-president for John Hancock Funds in Boston. "We will get to 10,000... The market has shown a lot of resiliency."
The Standard and Poor's 500 index fell 1.67 to 1,296.01.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a narrow margin on the NYSE, with 1,562 down, 1,406 up and 600 unchanged. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 2.70 to 398.38.
