By Chuck Mikolajczak
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks were lower on Wednesday, a day after the Dow and S&P 500 closed at record highs for a fifth straight session.
Financial companies lost ground after global regulators fined five major banks - including UBS AG, HSBC Holdings Plc and Citigroup Inc - $3.4 billion for failing to stop their traders from trying to manipulate the foreign exchange market.
Citigroup, which will pay $1.02 billion to settle the probe, dipped 1.4 percent to $53.08. JPMorgan Chase, which is also facing a penalty, fell 1.6 percent to $60.38 as the biggest drag on the S&P 500, while the S&P financial index lost 0.7 percent.
"Anytime people are encouraged to go into processes they don't fully understand, it's a big warning sign, so while I am disappointed I am not really that shocked," said Kim Forrest, senior equity research analyst at Fort Pitt Capital Group in Pittsburgh.
Tuesday's S&P 500 record marked its 40th new closing high of the year, versus 45 in 2013. The last five-day streak of record highs was in May 2013, and the next longest was eight days in June 1997. The Dow is on a 6-session winning run, its longest since June.
"This is a pause, there hasn't been any horrible news pressing down the market, there are concerns, however," said Forrest.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 65.02 points, or 0.37 percent, to 17,549.88, the S&P 500 lost 6.87 points, or 0.34 percent, to 2,032.81 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 10.64 points, or 0.23 percent, to 4,649.92.
The S&P 500 has rallied more than 9 percent from a six-month low in October, buoyed by supportive economic data and corporate earnings. For the year so far, it is up more than 10 percent.
As earnings season draws to a close, Thomson Reuters data through Wednesday morning showed that of 453 companies in the S&P 500 reporting, 74.8 percent beat expectations, above the 63 percent average beat rate since 1994 and 67 percent for the past four quarters. Earnings overall were expected to grow 10 percent over the year-ago period.
Macy's Inc rose 4.6 percent to $61.26 after it posted third-quarter earnings and revised its full-year outlook. Cisco Systems is scheduled to report earnings after the close.
U.S. wholesale inventories rose more that expected in September but the government revised downward its initial estimates for growth in stockpiles during August, which suggests little impact on current views of third-quarter economic growth.
Susquehanna Bancshares Inc surged 32.4 percent to $13.11 after the company agreed to be acquired by BB&T Corp for about $2.5 billion. BB&T shares lost 2.5 percent to $37.37.
(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; Editing by W Simon, JS Benkoe and Nick Zieminski)
