Wall Street drops after Fed minutes, European stocks end flat

The Dow and the Nasdaq lost ground on Wednesday as minutes from the Federal Reserve's June meeting showed policymakers are open to the idea of more economic stimulus, but that conditions might need to worsen first.

The S&P 500 ended unchanged, breaking a four-day losing streak, after paring losses into the close. Technology and industrials led the S&P's losers, as the market was hit by a number of high-profile earnings warnings in recent days.

The Dow Jones industrial shed 48.59 points, or 0.38 percent, to end at 12,604.53. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index dipped just 0.02 of a point to finish at 1,341.45. The Nasdaq Composite Index slipped 14.35 points, or 0.49 percent, to close at 2,887.98.

European equities steadied, with a weak start to the second quarter reporting season from the autos and luxury sectors denting sentiment, but technical support levels put a lid on losses in thin and jittery summer holiday trading.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 closed flat at 1,039.12 points, recovering earlier losses after finding firm technical support at the 100-day moving average around 1,033.

Japan's Nikkei share average eased to a two-week low today, crucially holding just above its 25-day moving average, with profit warnings from US firms viewed as a bad omen ahead of Japan's upcoming earning season.

Any break of the key chart level risks opening the way for a test of six-month low hit earlier, although expectations of more stimulus steps from the world's central banks could cushion the blow for investors worried about a global slowdown.

The Nikkei lost 0.1 percent to 8,851.00, marking its fifth straight session of declines, the longest such a spell since early April. The broader Topix index fell 0.2 percent to 757.29.