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New York - Wall Street's rally showed signs of fatigue on Wednesday, with the tech-rich Nasdaq finishing lower while the Dow and S&P 500 edged up to fresh records.
"The market needs a bit of a breather after an amazing run," said Alan Skrainka, chief investment officer of Cornerstone Wealth Management.
US stocks have made strong gains in the last three sessions after Friday's surprisingly solid jobs report.
Confidence in the US economy has helped to counter worries about slowing global growth due in part to uncertainty after Britain voted to leave the European Union.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.1% to 18 372.12, notching its second record in a row.
The broad-based S&P 500 edged up less than 0.1% to 2 152.43, narrowly scoring a third straight record, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index fell 0.3% to 5 005.73.
Nasdaq-listed companies with larger declines included biotech company Celgene, down 1.6%, video game developer Electronic Arts, down 2.4%, and Tesla Motors, down 0.9%. Apple lost 0.6% and Amazon 0.8%.
Petroleum-linked stocks retreated as oil prices fell sharply. Apache lost 1.7%, Devon Energy 2.5% and Baker Hughes 1.2%.
Valeant Pharmaceuticals International tumbled 6.9% on reports that one of its biggest shareholders, Sequoia Fund, sold its shares.
Juno Therapeutics surged 9.5% after the US Food and Drug Administration permitted it to resume a trial of a leukemia treatment after it ended the use of a chemotherapy drug thought responsible for three fatalities.
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries jumped 3.8% as it projected net income would grow from $4.7bn last year to as high as $5.6bn in 2016 and as much as $7.0bn in 2017.
Freight rail company CSX jumped 4.4% as it announced second-quarter earnings of 47 cents per share, three cents above analyst expectations, following cuts of $96m in expenses.
