Stocks slip after 3-day rally

NEW YORK (AP) -- Stocks paused from a three-day rally after The Walt Disney Co. reported disappointing results due partly to theme-park closures in Japan. A slump in oil and metals prices dragged down the stocks of energy companies and materials producers.

Around noon Wednesday, the Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 7 points, or 0.5 percent, to 1,350. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 77 points, or 0.6 percent, to 12,684. The Nasdaq composite index fell 7 points, or 0.2 percent, to 2,865.

Strong earnings have been carrying the market higher since the beginning of 2011. On Tuesday the S&P 500 climbed within just 0.5 percent of its highest close for the year.

Energy stocks fell the most of any of the 10 industries in the S&P 500 index after the price of oil dropped nearly 3 percent to just under $101 per barrel. Denbury Resources Inc. lost 3.3 percent, and National Oilwell Varco Inc. fell 3.1 percent.

Molycorp Inc., a producer of rare earth oxides used in wind turbines and hybrid vehicles, also reported results late Tuesday that fell short of expectations. Its stock dropped 2.1 percent.

Materials producers also struggled after metals prices sank. Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc., a miner, fell 2.9 percent. Copper fell 2.4 percent, and silver lost 4.8 percent. Silver fell sharply last week as part of a sell-off in commodities.

Commodities are still more expensive than they were a year ago. High oil prices helped push the nation's trade deficit up 6 percent to $48.2 billion in March. U.S. companies sold more automobiles and other goods and services to customers abroad, but it wasn't enough to make up for an 18 percent rise in oil imports.

Disney's results late Tuesday fell short of expectations, and its stock fell nearly 4 percent. The earthquake that struck Japan in March cut into revenues at its theme parks there, and its movie studio profits took a hit from the box-office bomb "Mars Needs Moms."

Macy's Inc. jumped nearly 9 percent after its earnings blew past expectations. The parent of Macy's and Bloomingdale's department stores said its first-quarter net income more than quintupled to $131 million from $23 million. The company raised its forecast for full-year earnings and doubled its quarterly dividend to 10 cents.

Intel Corp. rose 2.2 percent after the chip maker increased its quarterly dividend to 21 cents from 16 cents.

European and Asian stock markets were mixed.