Banks and other financial companies led U.S. stocks modestly lower Thursday, wiping out much of the market's gains from a day earlier.
Phone companies, real estate, utilities and health care stocks eked out gains. Energy, technology and other stocks that posted big gains in the weeks after the November election lost ground. Hess slumped 4.8 percent and chipmaker Micron Technology fell 2.1 percent.
Banks, which moved sharply higher through much of the postelection rally in November and December, were hurt by a drop in bond yields, which can push down interest rates on loans, squeezing banks' profits.
"The market has been running pretty nicely this year, so this is just a little bit of a pullback, a little bit of a consolidation," said Troy Logan, managing director at Warren Financial Service. "Anything that has run well postelection has pulled back somewhat today."
The Dow Jones industrial average slid 63.28 points, or 0.3 percent, to 19,891. The average had briefly been down more than 183 points. The Standard & Poor's 500 index lost 4.88 points, or 0.2 percent, to 2,270.44. The Nasdaq composite snapped a seven-day winning streak that delivered five consecutive record highs. On Thursday, the index fell 16.16 points, or 0.3 percent, to 5,547.49.