After a mixed morning session, US stocks decided which way to jum: down.
The Dow Jones average moved into negative territory on the year, closing at 17,730, down 159 points or 0.9%.
The S&P Composite was down 23 points (1.1%) at 2,079 and even the Nasdaq Composite, which had been in the green during the morning session, finished 33 points (0.8%) in the red at 5,123.
Oil companies led the retreat as US crude oil inventories rose for the tenth week in a row.
Facebook’s (NASDAQ:FB) stock was initally little moved by the headlines that founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg plans to give away 99% of his shares, but moved lower in line with the market in the afternoon session, shedding 1%.
Yahoo! (NASDAQ:YHOO) climbed 5.8% as the Wall Street Journal reported the web pioneer may be about to sell its core Internet business.
Microchip-maker Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM), meanwhile, was another in-focus tech stock after it unveiled a patent licensing deal with a Chinese smartphone maker. The shares advanced 5.2%.
Among the small caps, OnDeck Capital (NYSE:ONDK) was wanted, rising 28%, after it got into bed with investment banking giant JP Morgan.
The two are to co-operate on offering a new type of loan aimed at small businesses.
NeuroMetrix (NASDAQ:NURO) had a real up-and-downer, quadrupling in value in the morning, as it was announced its president and chief executive officer, Shai Gozani, would be talking about the company's business activities, including its Quell wearable pain relief device, at the Benchmark Micro Cap Discovery One-On-One Conference in Chicago.
Profit takers quickly moved in and the stock ended the day down 5.4%.