By Kate Gibson, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stocks fell Wednesday, with the
S&P 500 flirting with a fifth down session, as Wall Street
looked to minutes from last month's Federal Reserve meeting for
hints of more stimulus.
"It's all about the Fed minutes today and whether or not we see
more Fed members tilting towards quantitative easing, or another
round of stimulus," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at
Rockwell Global Capital.
The central bank is slated to release the minutes of its June
meeting at 2 p.m. Eastern. Last month the Fed reiterated that the
nation's economic climate would likely have it maintaining its
benchmark interest rate near zero until at least late 2014.
"I'd say for investors the Fed is largely irrelevant, as what is
going on in U.S. and around the world is a fiscal and not a
monetary problem. It has to come from politicians, Congress and the
president, and that's true globally. And so the Fed will be in the
news today, and for a trader that has impact," said Gary M. Flam,
portfolio manager at Bel Air Investment Advisors, drawing a
distinction between investing for the longer term versus day
trading.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) fell 39.40 points, or
0.3%, to 12,613.72, with 20 of its 30 components tallying
losses.
The S&P 500 (SPX) dropped almost 1.34 point, or 0.1%, to
1,340.13, with consumer discretionary hardest hit and energy the
best performer among the index's 10 sectors.
Best Buy Co. (BBY) slid 5.5% after appliance and electronics
retailer HHGregg Inc. (HGG) reduced its forecasts.
"The earnings season is going to keep this market on edge, and
of course the ongoing situation in euro land. We're disappointed by
the fact the German high court pushed back the debate on the
constitutionality of the stability funds -- that caused a little
bit of anxiety in the European markets, although Spain's taking
some hard measures is actually a positive," Cardillo said.
The Nasdaq Composite (RIXF) shed 17.19 points, or 0.6%, to
2,885.14.
Advancers and decliners ran near even on the New York Stock
Exchange, where 213 million shares traded as of 11:30 a.m.
Eastern.
"The fact that we have light volume is a negative in the sense
[that] we'll have larger gyrations, but, when you size it up, we're
stuck in a trading range of 2% to 4% over the next several weeks,"
said Cardillo.