NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — Wall Street stocks fell Wednesday, continuing its run of recent weakness amid a dimming global economic outlook.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.5 percent to finish the session at 25,673.46.
The broad-based S&P 500 shed 0.7 percent to 2,771.45, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index tumbled 0.9 percent to end the day at 7,505.92.
After a strong start to 2019, US stocks have generally traded flat to lower in the last two weeks amid talk the market is overbought.
Sentiment was further dented by Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development on Wednesday cutting its global growth forecast for 2019 to 3.3 percent, from the prior 3.5 percent.
US data were mixed, with the trade deficit hitting a 10-year peak in 2018 and private-sector hiring slowing somewhat in February compared with January.
“It’s perfectly normal to see the market pull back, especially after such a rally,” said Adam Sarhan, chief executive of 50 Park Investment, who also cited slowing growth expectations as a headwind.
Pharmaceutical names were mostly lower, with Pfizer shedding 2.4 percent, Amgen 3.0 percent and Gilead Sciences 2.3 percent.
An exception was Johnson & Johnson, which advanced 0.2 percent after the Food and Drug Administration late Tuesday approved esketamine nasal spray, marketed under the brand name Spravato, which is seen as a potentially revolutionary treatment for severe, treatment-resistant depression.
General Electric suffered another bruising session, losing 8.0 percent a day after its chief executive signaled the company’s performance would continue to be dogged in 2019 by weakness in its power business.
Dollar Tree shot up 5.1 percent despite reporting a loss of $2.3 billion on a large write-down of its Family Dollar business. But analysts said the report showed progress overall and hailed a plan to shutter underperforming stores.
© Agence France-Presse
