NEW YORK -- Stocks pulled back slightly today, halting a modest three-session recovery from the steep downturn of recent weeks. Dow off 23.17
The Dow Jones industrial average finished 23.17 points lower at 8,574.85 despite overcoming an early 54-point drop and gaining as much as 37 points during the afternoon.
Most popular indexes also suffered minor losses, with a fairly solid showing by the blue chips masking a weak day for smaller-company shares.
The Dow, which had gained 110 points in the prior three sessions after tumbling 299 points in Tuesday's sell-off, now sits more than 750 points from the record of 9,337.97 set less than a month ago on July 17.
The Standard & Poor's 500 fell 6.31 to 1,083.14, and the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index fell 7.56 to 1,839.21.
Decliners outnumbered advancers by a 2-to-1 margin on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,000 up, 2,017 down and 528 unchanged.
NYSE volume totaled 572.63 million shares, down sharply from last week's hectic pace. The NYSE composite index fell 3.78 to 545.72, and the American Stock Exchange composite index fell 4.27 to 679.80.
The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 4.16 to 411.64.
The benchmark 30-year Treasury bond rose 121/2 cents, or $1.25 per $1,000 bond, nudging its yield down 1 basis point to 5.62 percent, the lowest since July 10.
The market opened weak today after a sixth straight losing session in Japan, where stocks fell 1.3 percent amid news of another major corporate failure and signs of political bickering that could delay economic stimulus measures.