The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 4 points to 11666, one day after closing at a 28-month high.

The Nasdaq Composite edged down less than one point to 2691. The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index fell 0.2% to 1269.

Weighing on the S&P 500, food retailers lagged after BMO Capital Markets downgraded Safeway, Vitamin Shoppe, and Whole Foods to marketperform from outperform, noting limited upside. Shares of Safeway fell 4.6%, Vitamin Shoppe was off 3.4% and Whole Foods shed 2.9%. BMO also reduced its estimates for Supervalu, noting the chain's inability to drive traffic, and Kroger, saying the fiscal year 2011 consensus could be too high given the challenging environment. Supervalu tumbled 8.2, while Kroger lost 1.6%.

However, the market pared steeper earlier declines after the Commerce Department reported that U.S. factory goods orders unexpectedly rose in November 0.7%. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had forecast a 0.1% decline.

Also helping to keep the market's losses in check, technology companies rose, led by a 2.8% climb in Advanced Micro Devices after the company said it is launching its new Fusion chip at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Rival Intel will be announcing a similar chip of its own at the show. Shares of Intel rose 1%.

Later in the session, traders will be focused on the wording of the U.S. Federal Reserve's minutes from its latest meeting, which will be released at 2 p.m. EST.

European stocks traded largely higher as the euro was boosted by data showing the U.K.'s manufacturing sector expanded at the fastest rate for more than 16 years in December. Also helping lift sentiment in Europe, Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang said China supports Spain's economic reforms and will continue buying Spanish government debt, the Chinese official wrote in an editorial in El Pais, a Spanish newspaper.