U.S. stocks were easier on Wednesday after a consecutive monthly fall in durable goods orders.

The Nasdaq led the charge lower.

New orders for durable U.S. manufactured goods dived in June, by their biggest margin since August last year.

"In another environment, the durable goods report would have sent the market down more," Tim Ghriskey, chief investment officer of Solaris Asset Management in Bedford Hills, New York was quoted by the Reuters Thomson newsagency as saying. "The fact that the market is actually flat in the face of that is a positive sign for stocks."

At the close of trading Wednesday the Dow Jones Industrials were down 39.81 points or 0.38% at 10,487.88.

The Nasdaq Composite was off 23.69 points or 1.04% at 2,264.56.

The Standard and Poor's 500 was down 7.71 points or 0.69% at 1,106.13.

The U.S. dollar eased against most currencies but lost ground against sterling. Around the New York close Wednesday the euro was quoted at 1.2984.

The Japanese yen fell to 87.43, while the British pound edged up to 1.5582.

The Swiss franc was weaker at 1.0564, as was the Australian dollar at .8920. The Canadian dollar fell slightly to 1.0381.