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New York - US stocks dropped on Wednesday following mixed earnings as the market retreated after three straight sessions of big gains.
At the closing bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average stood at 16 465.11, down 149.70 points (0.90%).
The broad-based S&P 500 fell 13.95 (0.72%) to 1 927.33, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index lost 36.63 (0.83%) at 4 382.85.
Equities spent most of the morning in positive territory, before shifting into the red at midday. Analysts said the pullback was not surprising given that the S&P 500 surged 4.2% in the prior three days.
"After a pretty big S&P rally, at some point there was going to be some pause," said Michael James, managing director of equity trading at Wedbush Securities.
Yahoo rose 4.5% as third-quarter net profit surged to $6.8bn behind its divestment of shares in Chinese Internet commerce company Alibaba, which netted $6.3bn.
Cloud computing company VMware slumped 7.1% on concerns about its outlook due to lower bookings growth.
Biotech company Biogen fell 5.4%t as sales of its Tecfidera treatment for multiple sclerosis disappointed. Analysts said safety concerns about the medication could further hit sales.
In non-earnings news, Dow component Johnson & Johnson rose 0.9% after announcing it would spend $200m to accelerate an Ebola vaccine programme under development. The pharmaceutical giant plans tests on volunteers in January.
Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury bond rose to 2.23% from 2.21% on Tuesday, while the 30-year advanced to 3.00% from 2.98%.
