Wall Street on track for worst day in one month

By Yashaswini Swamynathan

REUTERS - U.S. stocks were on track to record their steepest fall in nearly a month on Thursday amid broad declines, led by retail and bank stocks.

Macy's dismal quarterly performance sent its shares tumbling 13 percent, taking a toll on the consumer discretionary sector, which fell 1 percent with all of its components in the red.

Financials were off 0.87 percent as losses in Wells Fargo and Bank of America weighed.

"Any market pullback, if orderly, are healthy as long as the underlying fundamentals for the market are strong," said Matthew Peterson, chief wealth strategist at LPL Financial in Charlotte, North Carolina.

At 10:56 a.m. ET (1456 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 117.7 points, or 0.56 percent, at 20,825.41, the S&P 500 was down 14.69 points, or 0.61 percent, at 2,384.94 and the Nasdaq Composite was down 46.58 points, or 0.76 percent, at 6,082.57.

Strong corporate earnings, robust economic data and expectations of fiscal stimulus in the United States have lifted Wall Street to record highs.

"We've seen participation in the market broadening, in terms of industries and the number of stocks, and that is a healthy thing," Peterson said.

All of the 11 major S&P sectors were lower, with energy and consumer staples bringing up the rear.

Shares of Snapchat owner Snap Inc plunged 20 percent after the company reported a slowdown in user growth and revenue in its first earnings report as a public company.

Straight Path fell 20 percent after it agreed to be taken over by Verizon in a $3.1 billion deal, snubbing an offer from AT&T.

Merck was the top stock on the S&P and the Dow, up 1.5 percent after the U.S. FDA cleared its lung cancer combination treatment.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers on the NYSE by 2,045 to 742. On the Nasdaq, 2,024 issues fell and 623 advanced.

The S&P 500 index showed eight 52-week highs and nine lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 42 highs and 43 lows.

(Reporting by Yashaswini Swamynathan in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva)