Stocks edge lower

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stock declined Wednesday afternoon, as investors took a breather after the recent run up and head of Friday's big monthly jobs report.

The Dow Jones industrial average (Charts) lost a few points not far from the close. The blue-chip leader had ended at an all-time high on Monday. The tech-fueled Nasdaq composite (Charts) and the broader S&P 500 (Charts) index both slipped as well.

Stocks had drifted lower throughout the morning as investors mulled mostly in-line readings on the services sector of the economy, and private sector employment, ahead of Friday's big jobs report.

But in the afternoon, stock losses accelerated a bit, with technology, commodity and material stocks leading the pull back. (For details, click here).

Stocks ended mixed Tuesday after a tough session in which dismal news about auto sales and the housing sector caused investors to pause after the previous day's rally. That sense of investor reluctance remained Wednesday as investors parsed the economic news.

The Institute for Supply Management's report on the services sector of the economy fell to 54.8 in September from 55.8 in August, versus forecasts for a drop to 55.0 in the month.

Additionally, payroll services company ADP estimated that the private sector added about 58,000 jobs in September, roughly in line with forecasts for 60,000.

The mostly in-line report seemed to suggest that Friday's more market-moving government report could be close to forecasts as well.

Economists expect employers added around 100,000 jobs to their payrolls in the month, after reporting a drop in payrolls last month of 4,000. The unemployment report, generated by a different survey, is expected to have risen to a 4.7 percent annualized rate from a 4.6 percent rate in August.

Since the Federal Reserve surprised Wall Street last month by cutting a key short-term interest rate more than expected, investors have been looking for evidence that the bankers will cut rates again at their next meeting at the end of October.

A string of weak economic reports last week seemed to raise hopes that the Fed could cut rates again, but Wednesday's economic news was pretty mixed, giving investors little to ponder in terms of the implications for monetary policy.

"Today's numbers show we are basically treading water economically right now, confirming that things are OK, but not great," said Georges Yared, chief investment strategist at Yared Investment Research.

Also in focus for investors over the next few weeks: the first big wave of third-quarter earnings reports. Analysts are currently expecting third-quarter earnings to have grown just over 3 percent from a year ago, according to the latest Thomson Financial figures.

That would represent the slowest earnings growth in more than 5 years, with the weakness attributed to the slower economy, problems in mortgage and housing and the tough year-over-year comparisons.

However, with expectations for earnings so low, it won't be hard for corporations to report upside surprises, analysts argue.

Among stock movers, semiconductors were especially weak following Micron Technology (Charts, Fortune 500)'s earnings report, released late Tuesday.

The memory chip maker reported a quarterly loss after having reported a profit a year ago, due to the impact of lower prices for its products. The quarterly loss was narrower than what analysts had forecast. Micron also reported higher revenue that was short of forecasts.

Brokerage Morgan Stanley started coverage of Intel (Charts, Fortune 500), Advanced Micro Devices (Charts, Fortune 500) and Nvidia (Charts) with an "underweight" rating, Briefing.com reported. All three chipmakers slipped in the early going.

On the upside, homebuilders continued to rally for the third day in a row, including Lennar (Charts, Fortune 500), Centex (Charts, Fortune 500) and Toll Brothers (Charts, Fortune 500).

Verizon (Charts, Fortune 500) was active but little changed after the company's wireless division said it was a launching a cell phone similar to Apple (Charts, Fortune 500)'s popular iPhone.

Deutsche Bank (Charts) said that gains from asset sales and tax credits will allow it to post a third-quarter profit, despite the $3.12 billion writedown it will take related to the mortgage mess. Shares of the German Bank rose more than 2 percent.

Casino stocks slumped after a Morgan Stanley note said September gaming revenue was weak in the Macau region of China, AP reported. Wynn Casinos (Charts) and Las Vegas Sands (Charts), both of which have exposure to the region, slumped in unusually active trading.

Market breadth was negative. On the New York Stock Exchange, losers beat winners 5 to 3 on volume of 1.01 billion shares. On the Nasdaq, decliners topped advancers 3 to 2 on volume of 1.61 billion shares.

Oil prices were volatile after a mixed weekly oil inventory report. U.S. light crude for November delivery fell 8 cents to $79.97 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after having seesawed through the morning.

COMEX gold for December delivery fell 60 to $735.70 an ounce.

Treasury prices slipped, lifting the yield on the 10-year note to 4.54 percent from 4.53 percent late Monday. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.

In currency trading, the dollar fell versus the euro and inched higher versus the yen.