After a listless day, US stock indexes close slightly lower; euro continues to slide

U.S. stock indexes are closing slightly lower, stabilizing a day after a global sell-off prompted by worries about higher U.S. interest rates.

The Dow Jones industrial average lost 27 points, or 0.2 percent, to close at 17,635 Wednesday.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index lost three points, or 0.2 percent, to 2,040. The Nasdaq composite fell nine points, or 0.2 percent, to 4,849.

Apple fell 1.8 percent after its iTunes and app stores suffered a rare outage that frustrated millions of users.

The euro continued to slide against the dollar. It was trading at $1.05, its lowest level in 12 years.

The price of crude oil fell 12 cents to $48.17 a barrel in New York.

Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.11 percent.