U.S. stocks finished lower on Wednesday after investors reviewed another batch of earnings from retailers and studied the latest signals from the Federal Reserve about future interest-rate moves.
Shares recovered some lost ground midafternoon just after the Fed published the minutes from its July meeting, but they tailed off again to finish the session. At the closing bell, the S&P 500 was down 31.16 points, or 0.7%, at 4274.04. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 171.69, or 0.5%, to 33980.32. The Nasdaq Composite declined 164.43, or 1.3%, to 12938.12.
