Mild Sell-Off Sweeps Wall Street; Dow Falls 71

Trepidation about softening economic data and profit taking after 2012's big rally triggered another mild pullback in the U.S. stock market on Wednesday. The losses were led by the basic materials and energy sector, while financials outperformed the broader market and finished near the flatline. At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had lost just under 72 points to finish at 13,126. The widely watched blue-chip index traded in a range between 13,069 and 13,212. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF registered a decline of 0.50% an closed the session at $140.47. Volume picked up slightly, with 148.2 million SPY shares trading hands compared to a 3-month daily average of 140.7 million. The PowerShares QQQ Trust ETF

, which tracks the performance of the Nasdaq 100, fell 0.40% to $67.94. Year-to-date, the QQQ has surged nearly 22% driven by increased risk appetite and a significant rally in shares of Apple

. Crude oil reflected the cautious market atmosphere, as NYMEX crude futures, the U.S. benchmark, fell 1.65% to $105.56 while ICE Brent contracts lost 1.01% to $124.27. In ETF trading, the United States Oil Fund ETF

fell 1.28% to close at $40.19. Precious metals were also caught up in the broad decline in materials. COMEX gold futures lost $1,665.50 while silver futures shed $32.045. The heavily traded SPDR Gold Trust ETF

lost 1.06% and closed at $161.51. Treasuries fell along with riskier assets on Wednesday. The iShares Barclays 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF

lost 0.14% to $113.28 on the session. The yield on the 10-Year Note rose 1.6 basis points to 2.20%. The U.S. Dollar was basically unchanged on the day. The PowerShares DB US Dollar Index Bullish ETF

, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of foreign currencies, lost 0.05% to $21.95. At last check, the closely watched EUR/USD pair was trading at $1.3322.