Dow tumbles more than 800 points as Treasury yields tick higher

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Paul Preston, New California State President

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U.S. stocks plunged Wednesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average recording its largest single-day point drop since February. Big tech stocks helped fuel the selling as investors weigh the threat of rising U.S. treasury yields and global trade spats.

The Dow tumbled 831.83 points, or 3.15 percent, to 25,598.74. The S&P 500 fell 94.66 points, about 3.3 percent, to 2,786.26. The Nasdaq Composite slipped 315.97 points, or 4.08 percent, to 7,422.05.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq and the Russell 2000, a snapshot of domestic companies, are both on pace for the worst start to a fourth quarter since 2008. For the S&P 500 and the Dow, it's the worst start to a fourth quarter since 2014, as tracked by Dow Jones Market Data.

Ticker Security Last Change % Chg

I:DJI

DOW JONES AVERAGES

25598.74-831.83-3.15%

SP500S&P

5002785.68-94.66-3.29%

I:COMP

NASDAQ COMPOSITE INDEX7422.0499-315.97-4.08%

The Nasdaq slid to a 3-month low led by names including Amazon, which dipped into correction territory with shares falling more than 10 percent from their record closing high on Sept. 4. Apple, Microsoft and Facebook also were down on the day.

Ticker Security Last Change % Chg

AMZN AMAZON.COM INC.1,755.25-115.07-6.15%

FB FACEBOOK INC.151.38-6.52-4.13%

MSFT MICROSOFT CORP.106.16-6.10-5.43%

AAPL APPLE INC.216.36-10.51-4.63%

The scope and speed of the session's fall appeared to have seriously rattled experienced investors: The CBOE VIX Index, a closely watched measure of investor anxiety that is sometimes called the "fear gauge," jumped more than 25 percent to its highest level since April 11.

A combination of threats drove the sell-off. The International Monetary Fund earlier this week cut its outlook for growth in the global economy to 3.7 percent from 3.9 percent, partly because of worsening trade tensions between the U.S. and China. The intensifying clash between Italy's new government and the European Union over the nation's budget threatened to spread to other euro-based economies. Meanwhile, American interest rates are climbing, something that weighs on corporate earnings and the ability of consumers to spend money. The possibility that the U.S. central bank will accelerate its interest rate hikes weighed on investor sentiment.