Wall Street Stumbles on Buying 'Exhaustion,' Strong Data

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The markets took a hit on Tuesday in choppy action as traders cashed in on recent gains and a round of stronger-than-expected data sparked fresh worries about when the Fed will taper its bond-buying program.

Today's Markets

As of 11:57 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 17.8 points, or 0.11%, to 15621, the S&P 500 dipped 3.5 points, or 0.19%, to 1765 and the Nasdaq Composite slumped 1.7 points, or 0.04%, to 3934.

In contrast to the deluge of news Monday, Tuesday morning was off to a  quieter start.

Dan Greenhaus, chief global strategist at BTIG, pinned the move lower on "exhaustion" after what he called a "terrific run" over the past few weeks. Indeed, the broad S&P 500 is up nearly 24% for the year so far.

AOL (NYSE:AOL) shares rallied after the media company's third-quarter revenues topped expectations.

On the economic front, the European Commission revised its 2014 growth outlook for the eurozone down by 0.1 percentage point to 1.2%, as the 17-member currency bloc continues to rebound from the debt crisis.

The Institute for Supply Management's gauge of service sector activity increased to 55.4 in October from 54.4 in September, beating expectations of drop to 54.0. Readings above 50 point to expansion, while those below point to contraction.

Elsewhere, in commodities, U.S. crude oil prices fell 19 cents, or 0.18%, to $94.45 a barrel. Wholesale New York Harbor gasoline rose 0.11% to $2.531 a gallon. Gold edged up by 80 cents, or 0.05%, to $1,315 a troy ounce.