Stocks gave up an early gain and wound up broadly lower on Wall Street, led by declines in tech heavyweights like Facebook and Apple. The S&P 500 gave up 0.5% Wednesday, its second loss in a row, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq dropped 2%. Bond yields mostly fell after rising earlier this week. Crude oil prices rose 6%. The S&P 500 fell 21.38 points to 3,889.14. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 3.09 points, or less than 0.1%, to 32,420.06. The Nasdaq fell 265.81 points to 12,961.89. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 51.42 points, or 2.4%, to 2,134.27.
GameStop had another bumpy ride, losing a third of its value after releasing a disappointing earnings report, the AP reports. The money-losing video game retailer fell 33.8% but is still up more than sixfold this year after becoming a favorite of online investors. Technology and communication stocks pulled the tech-heavy Nasdaq down more compared to the other indexes. Apple was down 2%, while Facebook fell almost 3%. Bank stocks, which took a beating on Tuesday, were among the best performers. Banks have been volatile the last couple of weeks as investors try to gauge the impact of higher interest rates on the US economy. Higher interest rates can slow economic momentum, but they also allow banks to charge more for loans.
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