NEW YORK - Wall Street stocks retreated March 25 as a market rally showed signs of fatigue and tech heavyweights faced stepped-up regulatory scrutiny in Europe.

Maris Ogg of Fiduciary Trust said the reticent start was unsurprising given the relatively light schedule this week as far as economic news.

“It certainly wouldn’t be unusual” to have some kind of consolidation after last week’s highs,” Ogg said.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.4 per cent to 39,313.64.

The broad-based S&P 500 shed 0.3 per cent to 5,218.19, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 0.3 per cent to 16,384.47.

Major indices surged to fresh records last week after the Federal Reserve signaled it still expects interest rate cuts in 2024.

Shares of Apple, Google parent Alphabet and Facebook parent Meta all fell after the European Commission, the EU’s antitrust regulator said it was probing the three companies over their response to a new digital law intended to ensure competition.

Apple fell 0.8 per cent, Alphabet 0.5 per cent and Meta 1.3 per cent.

But Boeing advanced 1.4 per cent as it announced that Chief Executive Dave Calhoun would step down at the end of 2024 as part of a leadership overhaul in the wake of safety and quality control problems that heightened scrutiny of the company. AFP