A pullback was to be expected after the Dow and the Standard & Poor's 500 index finished at new highs Tuesday amid enthusiasm over comments from Federal Reserve policymakers about interest rates, but corporate news appeared to hasten Wednesday's slide.

Declines by Dow components Boeing and Alcoa, among others, hurt the 30-stock index. Meanwhile, International Paper Co. and Chevron Corp. moved lower on profit news.

With investors thumbing through fresh quarterly results and company news, the latest economic readings did little to dislodge the dichotomy between blue chips and tech stocks. A report showed inventories among U.S. wholesalers ticked up in August, while a trade group for real estate agents warned the drop in sales of existing homes this year will be steeper than had been expected.

The stock market's uneven but still relatively calm trading Wednesday followed the surge the day before that was sparked by release of the minutes from the Fed's last meeting. Wall Street initially was ebullient that the Fed didn't appear to rule out further rate cuts but, on reflection, some investors seemed to be questioning whether that response was a little too optimistic.

"People are looking backward at what the Fed was discussing to try and discern whether or not we're in a recession," said Kim Caughey, equity research analyst at Fort Pitt Capital Group. "Looking in the rearview mirror isn't going to give us that clarity because its history, so instead I'm really looking forward to what corporate earnings will show."

According to preliminary calculations, the Dow fell 85.84, or 0.61 percent, to 14,078.69 after rising 120 points on Tuesday.

Broader stock indicators were mixed. The S&P 500 fell 2.68, or 0.17 percent, to 1,562.47, and the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index rose 7.70, or 0.27 percent, to 2,811.61.

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