US stocks ended lower Wednesday across the board, as tech and bank shares led the way south.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell around 205 points or by 0.8% to end at 25,081.
The S&P 500 also slipped by 0.75% to settle at 2,701.
The Nasdaq lost 0.9% to close at 7,136.
The Russell 2000 small cap index lost 0.46% to conclude at 1,507.
In Canada, the TSX added 0.09% to trade around 15,144.
12:15 PM: US benchmarks in the red this afternoon as Apple and bank stocks slip
The US benchmarks were in the red this afternoon, combatting a dip in tech and bank stocks.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped around 85 points as Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) shares weighed down the index.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) was another top decliner. Recent reports stated that Malaysia's finance minister has demanded a full refund of fees it paid to the bank related to a failed investment fund.
The S&P 500 was down around 10 points by midday.
Electricity provider PG&E Corp (NYSE:PCG) remained a top decliner, falling more than 30% as fatal wildfires continue to sweep through Northern California. The company disclosed details of an electric incident before the fires began.
The Nasdaq dipped around 40 points in afternoon trading.
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:VRTX) and drug manufacturer Mylan NV (NASDAQ:MYL) were two top decliners on the tech-heavy index.
The Russell 2000 slipped nearly 0.4% this afternoon.
Specialty chemicals company Amyris Inc (NASDAQ:AMRS) was one of the worst-performing stocks on the small-cap index after disappointing third-quarter results.
Up north, the TSX was down less than 15 points as a rise in oil prices boosted energy stocks.
10:00 AM: US stocks push higher at the open, helped by rebound in tech stocks
US stocks jumped on Wednesday as tech stocks rebounded from their slump earlier in the week.
Early in the session, the S&P 500 tech sector popped by over 1.2% as shares in Facebook, Amazon and Netflix jumped.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average Index also pushed higher, adding 158 points to 25,444, lifted by Nike Inc, Chevron Corp, DowDuPont, Home Depot, Visa and Boeing.
The S&P 500 added 18 points to hit 2,740, pushed up by HanesBrands Inc, Marathon Oil Corp, Ralph Lauren, Under Armour and Hess Corp.
The tech-laden Nasdaq climbed 65 points to 7,266, lifted by Vodafone Group, Ctrip.Com, Seagate Technology PLC, Western Digital Corp, Nvidia, Liberty Global PLC and Hasbro.
On the list of movers was Wix.Com Ltd (NASDAQ:WIX), which slipped 3.3% to $88.33 in the wake of a report that an Oppenheimer analyst cut his price target on the Israeli cloud-based web development platform to $113 from $125 while keeping an Outperform rating on the stock.
Shares of Macy’s Inc (NYSE:M), meanwhile, were trading 3.3% higher after the retailer’s latest quarter topped Wall Street’s estimate and the company lifted its full-year earnings guidance.
Investors also came away hopeful about US inflationary forecasts on the release of relatively rosy economic data. Matching expectations, the consumer price index jumped a moderate 0.2% last month, pushed up by higher costs for gasoline, housing and used cars and trucks.
The oil price also popped following its sharp sell-off a day earlier, with the price of Brent Crude Oil, the international benchmark, moving to over $66 a barrel.
Up in Canada, Toronto’s TSX also added 79 points to reach 15,210 while the Russell 2000 index of small-cap stocks jumped 12.8 points to hit 1,527.
7:13 AM: Wall Street seen starting lower amid fears of global slowdown; Brexit progress takes center stage in UK
US stocks are poised to start in the red on Wednesday after a largely lower finish yesterday as traders continue to fret about a general slowdown of the global economy.
New figures show that Germany and Japan contracted in the third quarter.
Meanwhile, in the US today, Macy's (NYSE:M) results before the bell will be closely watched and inflation data for October at 8.30am.
In Europe, FTSE 100 is trading up marginally at the time of writing as the UK awaits what will become of Prime Minister May's draft Brexit plan on a day described as one of 'reckoning', but other benchmarks are lower.
The German DAX is off 41 points, while the French CAC 40 is down nearly 24 points.
On Wall Street Tuesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 100 points at 25,286, while the broader S&P 500 lost around four at 2,722.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq index was flat at 7,200.
In futures trade, the S&P 500 is off one point, while the Nasdaq is down around 17 points and the Dow Jones futures are also around one point lower.
In Asia overnight, the Nikkei 225 added nearly 36 at 21,846, while the Shanghai Composite index in China shed around 22 at 2,632.
Connor Campbell, analyst at Spreadex, said that UK politics and Brexit were taking centre stage in Europe this morning.
"The morning’s trading is effectively just a distraction before this afternoon’s main event, with the performance of pound and FTSE alike almost entirely contingent on the outcome of the Brexit deal-discussing Cabinet meeting penned in for 2pm.
"Elsewhere, the DAX and CAC managed to reduce their initial losses to 0.6% and 0.5% respectively, less than half the decline seen just after the bell.
"As for the Dow Jones, after last night’s oil issues, the US is going to try and attempt to reclaim 25300 with a 30 point rise when the bell rings on Wall Street."