Dow streak of records ends as US stocks fall

The Dow's streak of seven straight records ended Thursday with analysts citing profit taking and anxiety over the Federal Reserve's moves to tighten monetary policy.

Investors were in a more skittish mood after pushing both the Dow and S&P 500 to fresh records Wednesday, following the Fed's announcement of plans to unwind a massive stimulus package, while also keeping alive a possible December interest rate hike.

After weeks of nearly steady upward movement, the market is "taking profits until the next news cycle with third-quarter earnings," said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Research.

Phil Davis of PSW Investments was more downbeat, predicting a "pretty big sell-off over the course of the next couple of months" due to the short-term economic hit from two hurricanes and the impact of Fed tightening.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 0.2 percent at 22,359.23.

The broad-based S&P 500 dropped 0.3 percent to close at 2,500.60, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index tumbled 0.5 percent to 6,422.69.

Consumer stocks were especially weak, with Dow member Procter & Gamble, Colgate-Palmolive and Kimberly Clark all losing more than 1.5 percent.

Dr Pepper Snapple Group dropped 2.4 percent as it trimmed its earnings forecast due to the default of a resins supplier that forced it to procure additional supplies. The soda giant also said its operations were affected by hurricanes in the US and the earthquake in Mexico, but that it was unable to quantify the impact of those events.

Anadarko Petroleum jumped 8.2 percent after announcing a $2.5 billion share repurchase program.