At the close, the broad S&P 500 index fell 0.1 percent while the Dow Jones industrial average and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index both fell 0.2 percent.
The day was unusually free of economic news, and when the Federal Reserve (Fed) released its minutes from the latest interest rate meeting, they were almost as watered down as the rest of the day.
Government bond trading and exchange rate movements were also quiet.
Even the otherwise volatile AI-linked technology stocks did not show any major swings.
Facebook's parent company Meta and cloud services company Oracle were among the more buoyant in the group, rising 1.1 and 0.9 percent respectively.
Aircraft manufacturer Boeing also had a relatively good day, rising 0.6 percent.
