Dow ends more than 800 points lower as tech plunge gives stocks worst day since June

By 

William Watts,

MarketWatch and

Sunny Oh

Apple sees biggest one-day fall since March

Technology and other high-flying stock sectors suffered steep losses Thursday as investors appetite waned following an extraordinary rally in the past month, dragging the rest of the stock market lower.

How did stock-market benchmarks perform?

The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -2.77% DJIA, -2.77% ended with a loss of 807.77 points, or 2.8%, at 28,292.73, after dropping more than 1,000 points at its session low. The S&P 500 SPX, -3.51% closed 125.78 points lower, down 3.5%, at 3,455.06. The Nasdaq Composite COMP, -4.96% tumbled 598.34 points, or 5%, to end at 11,458.10. The declines marked the biggest one-day drops for all three indexes since June.

The fall came a day after the S&P 500 claimed its 22nd record close of the year, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite arrived at its 43rd such all-time high and the Dow topped the 29,000 level for the first time since February. Thursday’s fall snapped a four-day win streak for the Nasdaq and a 10-day run of gains for the S&P 500’s tech sector.

What drove the market?

“In the absence of a specific catalyst, it’s easy to classify today’s swoon as profit-taking,” said Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer for Independent Advisor Alliance, noting that the “most-loved” parts of the market — the technology, consumer discretionary and communications services sectors — sold off the most.

In One Chart:Tech stocks and the rest of the market are both very expensive — but for very different reasons

Given the scale of the market’s rally before Thursday’s swoon, analysts said it was premature to declare a tech-led correction to be under way, instead arguing that a near-term pullback was overdue and would likely prove healthy.

“Tech stocks, and the overall market, hadn’t really had a bad day since June, so this is a healthy breather. It was never just going to be a straight line up. But the long-term structural support for technology has not changed and support for equities has not either,” said Esty Dwek, head of global macro strategy for Natixis Investment Managers, in emailed comments……..more here

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