Wall Street pulled back Wednesday as a mild recovery in oil prices sapped the momentum from the previous day’s big stock rally.

Following Tuesday’s 152-point gain in the Dow Jones industrial average, investors were cautiously watching oil again. Having dropped by more than $9 a barrel over the last two days, crude rose 76 cents to $136.80 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Oil rose after missile testing in Iran rekindled worries about political unrest in the Middle East disrupting supplies. Crude supplies in the United States, meanwhile, were down last week, the government reported Wednesday, and that eroded some of oil’s advance.

Investors were somewhat heartened by Alcoa Inc.’s earnings, which began the second-quarter earnings season after the market closed Tuesday. The alumnimum producer reported a profit decline of 24 percent due to increased production costs _ better than anticipated _ and its shares rose 32 cents to $32.60.

But with dismal bank and lender earnings expected in the coming weeks, investors hesitated to jump back into stocks, which have been moving into bear market territory. Many financial services companies declined Wednesday, including government-sponsored lenders Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. Merrill Lynch & Co. also dropped, after Fitch Ratings put its long-term credit default rating on watch for a possible downgrade.

In midmorning trading, the Dow fell 27.93, or 0.25 percent, to 11,356.28.

Broader stock indicators also dipped. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 1.26, or 0.10 percent, to 1,272.44, while the Nasdaq composite index fell 10.34, or 0.45 percent, to 2,284.10.

Bond prices edged higher Wednesday. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, fell to 3.87 percent from 3.89 percent late Tuesday.

The dollar fell against other major currencies. Gold prices also slid.

Merrill Lynch fell $1.27, or 3.9 percent, to $31.50.

Freddie fell $1.18, or 8.8 percent, to $12.28, while Fannie fell $1.12, or 6.4 percent, to $16.50. The two companies dragged the broader stock market lower on Monday as worries arose about their cash levels.

A negative analyst note about Cisco Systems Inc. weighed on the technology sector. Cisco fell 83 cents, or 3.6 percent, to $22.05 after an RBC Capital Markets analyst cut his price target on the network equipment maker. The CEO recently said technology spending will recovery later than the company originally thought.

Wednesday’s calendar of economic data is light. The one notable report was the Mortgage Bankers Association’s weekly application survey _ mortgage application volume rose 7.5 percent during the week ending July 4, the trade group said.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 2.79, or 0.41 percent, to 679.93.

Stock markets overseas rose. Japan’s Nikkei stock average edged up 0.15 percent. In afternoon trading, Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 1.70 percent, Germany’s DAX index rose 1.33 percent and France’s CAC-40 rose 1.39 percent.

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