Stocks slipped on Wednesday, as a lowered Procter & Gamble forecast and a downgrade of Amazon dulled the previous day's euphoria over Federal Reserve chief Janet Yellen's assurances of support for Wall Street.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which rose nearly 200 points on Tuesday, ended the day losing 30 points, with Procter & Gamble off 1.8 percent after the supplier of consumer goods cut its sales and earnings outlook for the year to reflect the devaluation of currencies in emerging markets.
The S&P 500 was slightly down, with technology and industrials the best performing and consumer staples and energy the hardest hit of its 10 major industry groups.
On the positive side, the Nasdaq put on 10 points, even though Amazon.com shares dropped 3.5 percent after UBS downgraded the online retailer to neutral from buy.
The dollar rose against the currencies of major U.S. trading partners and the yield on the 10-year Treasury note gained 3 basis points to 2.76 percent. Gold futures for April delivery rose $5.20, or 0.4 percent, to $1,295 an ounce; crude-oil futures for March delivery gained 43 cents, or 0.4 percent, to $100.37 a barrel.
In New York, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard said he expects the U.S. economy to expand 3 percent or more this year.
On Tuesday, stocks rallied after Yellen reassured Wall Street that the Fed would continue its policy of providing monetary stimulus to bolster the economy.