Wall Street paused its rally on Tuesday, weighed down by weakness in General Electric shares and as lower oil prices dragged down the energy sector.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 10.33 points, or 0.04 per cent, to 25,792.86, the S&P 500 lost 9.82 points, or 0.35 per cent, to 2,776.42 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 37.38 points, or 0.51 per cent, to 7,223.69.

Canada's main stock index fell on Tuesday as a drop in commodity prices weighed on the shares of materials and energy companies.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index unofficially closed down 72.93 points, or 0.45 per cent, at 16,298.88. Eight of the index's 10 main groups ended lower. 

Losses for the index came as the recent rally on Wall Street paused.

The materials group, which includes precious and base metals miners and fertilizer companies, fell 1.2 per cent, while the energy group retreated 1.9 per cent.

The most influential weights included oil and gas producer Encana Corp (ECA.TO), which fell 5 per cent to $16.72.

Barrick Gold Corp (ABX.TO) declined 3.1 per cent to $18.88 and diversified miner Teck Resources Ltd was down 4.1 per cent at $37.06.

Gold slipped from a four-month high reached on Monday as the U.S. dollar clawed back some lost ground, while copper and nickel hit multi-week lows. Crude prices also pulled back after recent gains.

BlackBerry Ltd (BB.TO) fell 1.7 per cent to $17.18 despite launching cyber-security software that identifies vulnerabilities in programs used in self-driving cars.

Eight of the index's 10 main groups ended lower.

Yellow Pages Ltd (Y.TO) advanced 0.7 per cent to $8.27 after the company, once well known for its thick-print directories, said it would fire about 500 employees to cut costs and turn around its digital advertising platform.

SSR Mining Inc (SSRM.TO) jumped 12.3 per cent to $11.48 after the precious metal miner reported fourth-quarter earnings and provided guidance for 2018.

Constellation Software Inc (CSU.TO) climbed 6.9 per cent to $787.87 after its Harris Operating Group acquired Acceo Solutions for $250 million.

U.S. MARKETS

The energy sector fell 1.2 per cent as Brent crude oil shed some of its recent gains, falling nearly US$1 per barrel. Industrials and materials were the other major laggards on the S&P, down 0.9 per cent and 1.2 per cent, respectively.

General Electric (GE.N) fell 2.9 per cent after raising the prospect of breaking itself up and announcing more than US$11 billion in charges from its long-term care insurance portfolio and new U.S. tax laws.

The CBOE Volatility index, a widely followed measure of market anxiety, rose to a more than 1-month high of 11.66.

"Lower energy prices are taking us down a little bit," said Tracie McMillion, head of global asset allocation strategy at Wells Fargo Investment Institute in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

But, she added, "investors are continuing to move into equities as they see returns. It's feeding on itself, becoming a virtuous cycle, enticing more people in."

Earlier on Tuesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had broken above the 26,000 mark for the first time as fourth-quarter earnings season got off to a strong start following upbeat results from UnitedHealth and Citigroup.

UnitedHealth (UNH.N) rose 1.9 per cent after the largest U.S. health insurer reported results that beat estimates and raised its 2018 earnings outlook.

More than three quarters of the 30 S&P 500 companies that have reported so far have topped profit estimates, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

"You'd typically see and expect the markets to interpret that in a positive manner, but a lot of indices have moved back. What's held them back seems to be company-specific," said Shawn Cruz, senior trading specialist at TD Ameritrade in Chicago, making reference to General Electric.

Cruz added that the Federal Reserve Bank of New York's business conditions index, which came in slightly below expectations on Tuesday, may have also contributed to Wall Street's dip.

Merck (MRK.N) surged 5.8 per cent after early results from a key study showed its blockbuster drug Keytruda and two chemotherapy medicines helped lung cancer patients live longer and stopped the disease from advancing.

Viacom (VIA.O) fell 7.0 per cent after sources told Reuters CBS Corp and the company were not in active merger discussions.

Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 2.04-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 2.18-to-1 ratio favored decliners.

Volume on U.S. exchanges was 8.30 billion shares, compared to the 6.48 billion average over the last 20 trading days.