After moving to the upside early in the session, stocks have come under pressure over the course of the trading day on Wednesday. The major averages have pulled back well off their highs of the session and into negative territory.
Currently, the major averages are just off their lows of the session. The Nasdaq is down 286.80 points or 1.2 percent at 22,824.66, the S&P 500 is down 52.86 points or 0.8 percent at 6,747.40 and the Dow is down 100.22 points or 0.2 percent at 48,014.04.
The pullback seen as the day progressed comes amid renewed weakness among technology stocks, as reflected by the slump by the tech-heavy Nasdaq.
Leading AI player Oracle (ORCL) has plummeted by 5.5 percent to a six-month intraday low, while shares of Broadcom (AVGO) and Nvidia (NVDA) have also shown significant moves to the downside.
Semiconductor stocks are turning in some of the market’s worst performances on the day, resulting in a 2.9 percent plunge by the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index.
Considerable weakness has also emerged among computer hardware stocks, with the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index tumbling by 2.5 percent.
Networking stocks have also moved notably lower, while housing stocks are turning in some of the worst performances outside of the tech sector.
On the other hand, energy stocks are seeing some strength as the price of crude oil rebounds from its lowest levels since early 2021.
The jump by the price of crude oil comes after President Donald Trump ordered a blockade of sanctioned oil tankers in Venezuela.
In a Truth Social post, Trump declared the government of President Nicolas Maduro a foreign terrorist organization and said he was ordering a “total and complete blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers” going into and leaving Venezuela.
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly higher during trading on Wednesday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index rose by 0.3 percent, while China’s Shanghai Composite Index jumped by 1.2 percent.
Meanwhile, the major European markets are turning in a mixed performance on the day. While the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index is up by 1.2 percent, the French CAC 40 Index is down by 0.3 percent and the German DAX Index is down by 0.4 percent.
In the bond market, treasuries have climbed back near the unchanged line after seeing initial weakness. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is down by less than a basis point at 4.147 percent.
Business News
U.S. Stocks Come Under Pressure After Early Move To The Upside
2025-12-17 16:23:16
