Wall St dips as investors digest earnings

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks ended a choppy session down slightly on Thursday as investors digested the latest round of earnings, while a sharp drop in telecoms offset gains in healthcare.

Based on the latest available data, The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> fell 40.27 points, or 0.22 percent, to 18,162.35, the S&P 500 <.SPX> lost 2.95 points, or 0.14 percent, to 2,141.34 and the Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> dropped 4.58 points, or 0.09 percent, to 5,241.83.

(Reporting by Caroline Valetkevitch; Editing by Nick Zieminski)