US stocks retreat from records

Wall Street stocks retreated from record peaks Tuesday, losing ground after lackluster US auto sales.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 85.26 points (0.47 percent) to 18,203.37.

The broad-based S&P 500 fell 9.61 (0.45 percent) to 2,107.78, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 28.20 (0.56 percent) to 4,979.90.

Ford Motor lost 2.4 percent after reporting a 1.79 percent drop in February auto sales compared with a year ago. Toyota and Fiat Chrysler's US unit were among the other firms to report lower-than-expected sales, suggesting shoppers were put off by cold weather.

Michael James, managing director of equity trading at Wedbush Securities, called the market action "a healthy pause" after the surge in recent weeks.

"People are using today to maybe take some profits off the table," he said.

Chipmaker Micron Technology tumbled 5.1 percent following a downgrade from Nomura. Fellow chipmakers Qualcomm and Texas Instruments lost 1.7 percent and 2.3 percent, respectively.

Several large-capitalization tech stocks retreated after helping Monday to push the Nasdaq above 5,000 for the first time in 15 years. Microsoft fell 1.4 percent, Oracle dropped 1.5 percent and Cisco Systems declined 2.2 percent.

Consumer electronics retailer Best Buy rose 1.4 percent after announcing a series of shareholder payouts, including a 21 percent rise in its dividend and a special one-time dividend of 51 cents per share.

Alibaba fell 2.9 percent on news that Taiwan demanded the Chinese e-commerce giant exit the island within six months for violating investment restrictions on mainland-controlled firms.

Taiwan officials said Alibaba registered as a foreign company when it was in fact a company from mainland China. The Taiwan crackdown comes as Alibaba contends with charges in its home market that it is selling fake goods.

Citigroup advanced 0.5 percent after announcing the sale of consumer-lending unit OneMain Financial to Springleaf Holdings for $4.25 billion. Springleaf, which provides personal loans secured by automobiles and other personal property, jumped 32.1 percent.

Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury rose to 2.12 percent from 2.08 percent Monday, while the 30-year advanced to 2.71 percent from 2.69 percent. Bond prices and yields move inversely.