Wall Street slightly lower after private sector jobs report

Reuters
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange at the opening bell in New York, January 2, 2014. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks fell on Wednesday as investors took profits from the S&P 500's biggest daily gain in three weeks, and following a better-than-expected private sector jobs report. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 44.31 points or 0.27 percent, to 16,486.63, the S&P 500 lost 2.71 points or 0.15 percent, to 1,835.17 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 1.812 points or 0.04 percent, to 4,151.37. (Reporting By Angela Moon; Editing by Nick Zieminski)