Conclusion of China Trade Talks Didn't Lift Markets

Wall Street's rally stalled Wednesday after stocks climbed back within 2% of their all-time high.

• The S&P 500 fell 16.57 points, or 0.3%, to 6,022.24, marking its first drop in four days.
• The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.10 points, or less than 0.1%, to 42,865.77.
• The Nasdaq composite fell 99.11 points, or 0.5%, to 19,615.88.

The action was stronger in the bond market, where Treasury yields eased after a report showed inflation ticked up by less last month than economists expected, the AP reports. That raised expectations for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates later this year. Markets didn't react much to the conclusion of two days of trade talks between the US and China.

On Wall Street, a 1.9% drop for Apple was the heaviest weight on the market. It's been listless this week after unveiling several modest upcoming changes to the software that runs its devices. Chewy dropped 11% after the seller of pet supplies reported a weaker profit for the latest quarter than analysts had forecast. Tesla swung between gains and losses before finishing with a rise of 0.1% to continue its shaky run. It's been recovering much of its big losses taken last week after Elon Musk's relationship with Trump imploded, which in turn raised fears about a loss of business for the electric-vehicle company. Musk on Wednesday backed away from some of his earlier comments and said they went "too far."

Trump said Wednesday that China will supply rare-earth minerals and magnets to the United States, while his government will allow Chinese students into US universities in a deal that still needs an agreement by him and by China's leader. Trump also said that "President XI and I are going to work closely together to open up China to American Trade. This would be a great WIN for both countries!!!" Investors are still hoping for a more sweeping trade deal that would ease tensions between the world's two largest economies.

(More stock market stories.)