But the Dow Jones industrial average rose 5.77 to 7,085.16, its second straight record close.
Advancers outnumbered decliners by a 10-to-9 margin on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,319 up, 1,194 down and 855 unchanged. NYSE volume totaled 491.32 million shares vs. 458.75 million yesterday.
The Standard & Poor's 500-stock list fell 2.31 to 811.34, and the NYSE's composite index fell 0.64 to 427.06. The Nasdaq composite index fell 5.95 to 1,316.77, and the American Stock Exchange index fell 0.20 to 603.43.
Broader stock measures turned negative as interest rates rose in morning bond trading. As bond prices fell, the yield on the 30-year Treasury - a key determinant of corporate and consumer borrowing costs - rose as high as 6.86 percent, up from late yesterday's 6.81 percent, before settling at about 6.85 percent.
There was little reaction to news that U.S. productivity increased 0.7 percent last year, a downward revision from the 0.8 percent annual gain reported a month ago, but still the biggest in four years. The Labor Department report also said productivity grew at a 1.1 percent annual rate in the fourth quarter, only half the 2.2 percent figure originally reported.
Though disappointing, the revisions weren't enough to change the unit labor cost gain for all of 1996: 2.9 percent, the same as 1995.