Dow dips after record

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The Dow slipped Wednesday, one session after hitting an all-time high, but the Nasdaq managed to rise, ending at its highest level in more than six years.

The Dow Jones industrial average (Charts) lost 0.6 percent. The broader S&P 500 (Charts) index lost 0.2 percent after ending the previous session at a record high.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite (Charts)added 0.2 percent, ending the session at a fresh 6-1/2 year high.

After the close, the United Auto Workers said it reached a tentative deal with Chrysler that will put an end to the brief labor strike that began earlier today.

Separately, the UAW workers at GM have ratified their four-year contract that was first settled in late Sept. following a two-day strike.

Thursday brings a slew of economic news, including reports on import and export prices, the trade balance and weekly oil inventories.

Alcoa's earnings miss and profit warnings from Valero and Chevron set an early negative tone for stocks.

A setback for Boeing in delivering its 787 Dreamliner planes added to the day's weakness.

But technology managed a late-session advance, giving the Nasdaq composite a boost.

Nonetheless, the day's retreat was pretty moderate considering the recent run up, said Joseph Saluzzi, co-head of equity trading at Themis Trading.

"We've had a really good run, so it's not surprising to see a bit of a selloff here," he said.

Stocks rallied Tuesday as investors breathed a sigh of relief that the minutes from the last Fed meeting supported hopes for another interest rate cut by the end of the year.

But that euphoria didn't extend to Wednesday's session, particularly after a sluggish start to the third-quarter earnings reporting period.

As is traditional, Dow component Alcoa (Charts, Fortune 500) unofficially began the reporting period when it released quarterly results late Tuesday.

The aluminum maker said it earned 64 cents per share, up from 62 cents a year ago and 2 cents shy of estimates. Revenue fell from a year ago, but met forecasts. Alcoa also said it was upping its stock buyback authorization to 25 percent of outstanding shares from 10 percent currently.

Lower gas prices in the quarter dragged on oil services firms, with both Valero Energy (Charts, Fortune 500) and Chevron (Charts, Fortune 500) warning that quarterly results will be hurt because the companies earned less from the refineries that fuel gas pumps.

Boeing (Charts, Fortune 500) said that it was delaying the delivery of its first 787 Dreamliner planes by six months, due to assembly problems. The Dow component said that the delay won't hit 2007 and 2008 earnings, but investors sent the stock lower anyway.

Other big blue chip decliners included AIG (Charts, Fortune 500), Caterpillar (Charts, Fortune 500), JP Morgan (Charts, Fortune 500) and Honeywell (Charts, Fortune 500).

Qwest Communications (Charts, Fortune 500) fell 5 percent in active New York Stock Exchange trading after UBS downgraded the telecom to "neutral" from "buy," Briefing.com reported.

On the upside, Costco (Charts, Fortune 500) reported quarterly earnings that topped estimates and said September sales at stores open for a year or more rose more than expected.

Market breadth was negative. On the New York Stock Exchange, losers beat winners by a narrow margin on volume of 1.16 billion shares. On the Nasdaq, decliners beat advancers 8 to 7 on volume of 1.96 billion shares.

In economic news, a government report showed that August wholesale inventories rose a smaller-than-expected 0.1 percent after rising 0.2 percent in July.

Treasury prices fell, raising the yield on the benchmark 10-year note to 4.65 percent from 4.64 percent late Tuesday. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.

COMEX gold for December delivery rose $2.90 to settle at $746 an ounce.

U.S. light crude oil for November delivery rose $1.04 to settle at $81.30 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.