Stocks fell Thursday as a year-end selloff returned to Wall Street following a brief respite this week.
The Dow Jones Industrials faltered 467.08 points, or 1.4%, to begin Thursday at 32,908.47
The S&P 500 backpedaled 71.11 points, or 1.8% at 3,807.33.
The NASDAQ Composite Index collapsed 279.61 points, or 2.6%, to 10,429.76.
This decline follows a 526-point rally in the Dow on Wednesday after better-than-expected earnings from Nike and FedEx, as well as strong consumer sentiment data for December. The S&P 500 and NASDAQ Composite each surged 1.5% Wednesday.
However, the selling returned Thursday as investors remained concerned that further monetary tightening from central banks around the world will push the economy into a recession. Tech shares led the losses, with semiconductor companies such as Lam Research collapsed more than 5% and KLA was down more than 3%.
CarMax shares dropped more than 7% after the used car retailer missed profit and revenue expectations. Micron Technology shares slipped 3% on disappointing quarterly results, dragging down other chip stocks. One-time meme stock darling AMC dropped 16% after announcing a capital raise.
Micron shares fell about 4% after the semiconductor maker missed earnings estimates and said it’s facing dwindling demand for its products.
So far in December, the Dow is down 4.3%, while the S&P 500 has fallen 6% and NASDAQ tumbled 8.%. All three major averages are slated to break a three-year win streak and post their worst yearly performance since 2008.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury gained slightly, lowering yields to 3.66% from Wednesday’s 3.67%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices fell 14 cents to $78.15 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices staggered $19.60 to $1,805.80 U.S. an ounce.
Dow Slides Day After One-Day Pop