Wall Street lost ground on Wednesday as weak U.S. economic data and simmering geopolitical tensions spooked buyers away from the equities market, despite a string of generally positive third-quarter earnings reports.

Technology shares, led by Microsoft Inc, weighed heaviest, pulling all three major U.S. stock averages into the red.

U.S. retail sales contracted in September for the first time in seven months, according to the Commerce Department, in a sign that cracks might be spreading from the troubled manufacturing sector to the broader economy.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 22.82 points, or 0.08%, to 27,001.98, the S&P 500 lost 5.99 points, or 0.20%, to 2,989.69 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 24.52 points, or 0.3%, to 8,124.18.

Source : Reuters