Wall Street on track to record worst day in one month

By Yashaswini Swamynathan

REUTERS - U.S. stocks trimmed losses on Thursday, but were still on track for their biggest one-day fall in nearly a month due to declines in retail and bank shares.

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.

The Dow Jones U.S. general retailers index was off 1.2 percent. Investors will get more insight into the U.S. retail sector on Friday when the Commerce Department issues its April retail sales report.

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 12:34 p.m. ET (1634 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 43.41 points, or 0.21 percent, at 20,899.7, the S&P 500 was down 8.89 points, or 0.37 percent, at 2,390.74 and the Nasdaq Composite was down 26.03 points, or 0.42 percent, at 6,103.11.

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 a rival 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 1,816 to 1,012. On the Nasdaq, 1,826 issues fell and 912 advanced.

The S&P 500 index showed nine 52-week highs and nine lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 62 highs and 51 lows.

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