Wall Street ends lower

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street ended down Tuesday, putting a term to three sessions of gains, but the potential downside appears limited to the extent that investors have adopted a defensive strategy.

In light of preliminary data, the volume of trade was also the lowest since the beginning of the year.

The market volatility is also declining, with an index of the CBOE, which yielded 2.23%, after surging in response to the natural disaster in Japan.

This seems to show that investors have become a little less feverish when discussing the events in Japan, the Middle East and North Africa.

The increase in temperature around the core of the reactor No. 1 at the Fukushima plant raises the anxiety of the Japanese authorities, Despite some signs of improvement in the situation in other ways.

The forces of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi on Tuesday attacked two towns in western of Libya, killing dozens of people, while insurgents in the east appears to be stalling.

The Dow Jones lost 17.90 points (0.15%) to 12,018.63. The S & P 500 dropped 4.61 points (0.36%) to 1293.77. The Nasdaq Composite yields 8.22 points (0.31%) to 2683.87.

"There is a relative calm in the market, investors ripen their next choice even if we navigates to the given number of uncertainties, " said Jeffrey Davis (Lee Munder Capital Group).

He added that the various crises have prompted investors to put on the defensive attitude that could hinder any further downward movement. "Most investors are pretty safe now and I feel that the VIX will likely continue to fall back gradually. "

According to a report of EPFR Global ,flows of investment funds "have taken a 180 degree turn to the defensive at mid-March "

To the values​​, Walgreen has lost 6.6%. The first U.S. drugstore chain reported on predictions, the state government agencies subsidizing less medication because of deteriorating in public finances.

Unlike the video rental company Netflix has gained 4%, driven by a increase in the recommendation of Credit Suisse to "neutral"to "outperform. ".