The New York stock exchange's broad S&P 500 index, which earlier in the week recorded new record levels two days in a row, fell 0.4 percent on Thursday. The Dow Jones industrial index and the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index also fell, down 1.0 and 0.5 percent, respectively.
The indexes were weighed down, among other things, by Walmart, whose share price plummeted 6.5 percent. The large retail chain did report a profit for the previous quarter that was better than analysts had predicted, but the forecast for this year's profit did not meet expectations.
Two other giants in retail, Costco and Target, fell 2.6 and 2.0 percent, respectively.
Among the winners was the medical technology company Baxter International, which presented an interim report that was better than expected. The share price rose 8.5 percent.
