US stocks mostly down amid talk of 'overbought' market

Wall Street stocks mostly fell early Wednesday on weakness in Nvidia and other tech giants amid talk that markets are "overbought" after numerous records.

The Dow remained modestly positive, while both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq were firmly in the red.

About 15 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.1 percent at 40,980.17, edging higher from Tuesday's record close.

The broad-based S&P 500 dropped 1.0 percent to 5,612.86, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index fell 1.8 percent to 18,171.13.

"The contention that the broader market is overbought on a short-term basis and due for a pullback is valid in its own right, yet it has been helped along this morning by some other news,"  said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O'Hare.

O'Hare said investors were unnerved by comments from Donald Trump in a published interview  that Taiwan "should pay" the United States for defense.

Data showed that US industrial production cooled in June but still exceeded analyst expectations, with manufacturing and utilities output both rising.

Among individual companies, Johnson & Johnson rose 2.0 percent after reporting better than expected profits on a 4.3 percent increase in sales.

The drug and medical device company expressed confidence in its pipeline as it pursues regulatory approval of new products.