NEW YORK, New York - Stocks in the U.S. and around the world fell on Wednesday although losses were mostly modest.

"When they take a look at what earnings estimates are for the remainder of 2022 and for 2023, they have not considered a recession in 2023," Paul Nolte, portfolio manager at Kingsview Asset Management in Chicago told Reuters Wednesday.

"There's some adjustment to what earnings estimates will be over the next 12 months and I think that's what's providing a little bit of pressure to the markets."

The Nasdaq Composite slipped 56.34 points or 0.51 percent to 10,958.55.

The Standard and Poor's 500 edged down 7.34 points or 0.19 percent to 3,933.92.

The Dow Jones industrials finished flat, inching up 1.58 points to 33,597.92.

On foreign exchange markets the U.S. dollar was weakened. The euro firmed to 1.0508 around the New York close Wednesday. The British pound cruised up to 1.2207. The Japanese yen was little changed at 136.43. The Swiss franc edged up to 0.9401.

The Canadian dollar was unchanged at 1.3653. The Australian dollar was in demand at 0.6725. The New Zealand dollar was sharply higher at 0.6357.

Overseas, the biggest loser was Hong Kong's Hang Seng which dived 626.36 points or 3.22 percent to 18,814.82.

In London, the FTSE 100 fell 32.20 points or 0.43 percent to 7,489.19.

The German Dax dropped 82.00 points or 0.57 percent to 14,261.19.

The Paris-based CAC 40 shed 27.20 points or 0.41 percent to 6,660.59.

In Australia, the All Ordinaries fell 64.50 points or 0.86 percent to 7,423.20.

Indonesia's Jakarta Composite lost 73.82 points or 1.07 percent to 6,818.75.

In South Korea, the Kospi Composite was off 10.35 points or 0.43 percent at 2,382.81.

New Zealand's S&P/NZX 50 let go 20.61 points or 0.18 percent to 11,610.99.