Wall Street on Wednesday gave back a chunk of Tuesday's record gains, pressured by news that Boeing will delay deliveries of its Dreamliner jet and a report that Alcoa fell short of its earnings estimates. On Tuesday, Wall Street rallied, taking the Dow and S&P to fresh closing highs after minutes from the Federal Reserve's September meeting furthered thoughts that the central bank would cut interest rates again at a two-day Federal Open Markets Committee gathering at the end of the month.

A pullback was to be expected after the Dow and the Standard & Poor's 500 index finished at new highs Tuesday, but corporate news appeared to hasten Wednesday's slide. The Dow fell 85.84, or 0.61 percent, to 14,078.69 after rising 120 points on Tuesday. Third-quarter earnings of S&P 500 companies have "a good chance" of turning negative for the first time in five years on Thursday, after factoring in Wednesday's profit-warnings from a slew of energy stocks, Thomson Financial said.

Broader stock indicators were mixed. The S&P 500 fell 2.68, or 0.17%, to 1,562.47, and the technology-laden Nasdaq composite index rose 7.70, or 0.27%, to 2,811.61. Bond prices had a late-session uptick but finished little changed. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note was unchanged at 4.65%, compared with late Tuesday. The dollar was mixed against other major currencies, while gold prices rose.

Light, sweet crude rose $ 1.04 to settle at $ 81.30 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange following word that workers at Chevron facilities in Nigeria had staged a surprise strike and by a report that demand for gasoline is up.

Volume on the New York Stock Exchange totaled more than 1.2 billion shares, with decliners barely ahead of advancing stocks. On the Nasdaq, more than 1.9 billion shares were exchanged, and declining stocks ran just ahead of advancing issues.

Indian ADRs end mixed; VSNL rises 6%

Indian ADRs ended on a mixed note yesterday. VSNL was amongst the major gainers, rising almost 6%. PAtni led the losers falling more than 2%. In the technology pack, Infosys Technologies was up 2.45% at $ 55.29, Patni Computers was down 2.17% at $ 24.83, Satyam Computers was down 0.18% at $ 28.04, while Wipro ended the day 2.62% higher at $ 16.03.

In the non-technology pack, HDFC Bank was down 1.57% at $ 111.85, VSNL was up 5.82% at $ 25.98, ICICI Bank was up 1.09% at $ 55.47, MTNL was down 0.49% at $ 8.05, Tata Motors was up 1.71% at $ 20.26, Dr Reddy's Lab was down 1.74% at $ 16.40 and Sterlite was down 0.86% at $ 19.63.