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New York - Wall Street stocks fell on Thursday, ending a three-day rally as oil prices stagnated and Wal-Mart shares tumbled on a poor sales outlook.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 40.40 points (0.25%) to 16 413.43.
The broad-based S&P 500 dropped 8.99 (0.47%) to 1 917.83, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index fell 46.53 (1.03%) to 4 487.54.
Brent oil prices dropped after US stockpiles increased again and Saudi Arabia ruled out cutting oil production.
Wal-Mart Stores dropped 3.0% after trimming its 2017 sales forecast due to the strong dollar and the impact of store closures.
"We had three strong days in a row, it's not unusual to see some kind of a pause," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Wunderlich Securities.
Banking shares were in retreat, with Bank of America falling 2.6%, Citigroup 2.2% and JPMorgan Chase 1.6%.
Technology shares were also weaker. Apple lost 1.9%, Facebook 1.6% and Netflix 4.5%.
IBM jumped 5.1% as it announced a $2.6bn acquisition of Truven Health Analytics, a provider of cloud-based healthcare data. The deal is part of IBM's effort to beef up its "Watson" big-data technology.
Morgan Stanley upgraded IBM, saying its transformation to more of a cloud-based business is "underappreciated."
Ingram Micro, which distributes personal computers and other technology products, surged 22.6% on news it agreed to be acquired by China's HNA for $6bn.
Perrigo, which makes over-the-counter pharmaceutical profits, fell 10.2% as it projected 2016 adjusted earnings of $9.50 to $9.80 per share compared with analyst expectations for $9.74 per share.
Nvidia, which provides graphics and other visual computing technology, jumped 8.6% as it reported fourth-quarter net income of $207m, up 7.3% from the year-ago period.
Two other companies with big drops following earnings were MGM Resorts International, which lost 8.3%, and the Jack in the Box restaurant chain, which sank 16.2%.
