Wall Street stocks fell on Wednesday as the S&P 500 struggled to break through a key technical level after an unexpected decline in durable goods orders weighed on market sentiment.

The S&P hovered around its 200-day simple moving average for a third session running, with investors struggling to define it as the top of a recent rally or a consolidation point ahead of further gains.

We had a big run up to the 200-day moving average, and there's a little uncertainty about where we move from here, said Peter Boockvar, equity strategist at Miller Tabak & Co in New York.

We ran into some resistance and need some more information about the economy and earnings.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> dropped 25.65 points, or 0.24 percent, to 10,512.04. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> fell 4.05 points, or 0.36 percent, to 1,109.79. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> lost 8.46 points, or 0.37 percent, to 2,279.79.

New orders for long-lasting U.S. manufactured goods unexpectedly fell for a second straight month in June, posting their largest decline since August.

Boeing Co reported a higher-than-expected quarterly profit but forecast full-year earnings slightly below Wall Street's consensus estimate, and its shares fell 1.9 percent to $67.31.

Defense contractor General Dynamics Corp and ConocoPhillips , the third-largest U.S. oil company, both posted a better-than-expected quarterly profits. General Dynamics shares rose 0.8 percent to $62.24, and ConocoPhillips shares edged up 0.4 percent to $54.63

(Editing by Padraic Cassidy)

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