WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Stocks moved sharply lower over the course of the trading day on Wednesday, as traders expressed concerns about the impact of a default by the U.S. government amid indications that lawmakers in Washington continue to struggle to reach an agreement on raising the debt limit.
While significant weakness was visible in a variety of sectors, networking stocks posted particularly steep losses on the day. The NYSE Arca Networking Index plunged by 7.3 percent to its worst closing level in well over seven months.
Juniper Networks (JNPR) helped to lead the sector lower, falling by 20.9 percent after reporting weaker than expected second quarter results and providing disappointing guidance. With the loss, Juniper fell to a one-year closing low.
Trucking stocks also saw substantial weakness on the day, resulting in a 4.9 percent loss by the Dow Jones Trucking Index. C.H. Robinson (CHRW) came under significant selling pressure after reporting second quarter earnings that came in below analyst estimates.
Considerable weakness was also visible among health insurance stocks, as reflected by the 4.3 percent loss posted by the Morgan Stanley Healthcare Payor Index. WellPoint (WLP) fell by 6.6 percent after reporting its second quarter results.
Most of the other major sectors also showed notable moves to the downside, reflecting broad based weakness in the markets. Semiconductor, biotechnology, and brokerage stocks posted significant losses.
The major averages posted steep losses, ending the session near their worst levels of the day. The Dow fell 198.75 points or 1.6 percent to 12,302.55, the Nasdaq plummeted 75.17 points or 2.7 percent to 2,764.79 and the S&P 500 dropped 27.05 points or 2 percent to 1,304.89.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX