Stocks moved sharply lower over the course of the trading day on Wednesday after showing a lack of direction early in the session. With the drop on the day, the tech-heavy Nasdaq pulled back well off yesterday's record closing high.
The major averages saw further downside going into the close, ending the session at their worst levels of the day. The Dow tumbled 178.00 points or 1 percent to 17,966.07, the Nasdaq fell 37.68 points or 0.7 percent to 5,122.41 and the S&P 500 slumped 15.62 points or 0.7 percent to 2,108.58.
The weakness that emerged on Wall Street came as the latest developments regarding Greece's negotiations with its creditors offset recent optimism about a potential deal.
Greece put forward new proposals earlier this week that were touted as a sign of progress, but the offer was subsequently rejected.
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras claimed the international creditors are rejecting equivalent measures that were accepted for Portugal and Ireland.
"This odd stance seems to indicate that either there is no interest in an agreement or that special interests are being backed," Tsipras said in a post on Twitter.
The troika of creditors, which includes the European Commission, the European Central Bank, and the International Monetary Fund, has put forward a set of counterproposals.
A Greek government official told Reuters the new proposal puts an unfair burden on wage earners and pensioners and cannot be accepted.
Negotiations are expected to continue on Thursday after a meeting of European financial ministers ended without a resolution this afternoon.
The continued back-and-forth comes as Greece is faced with a 1.5 billion euro payment to the IMF at the end of month. Greece has indicated that it will not be able to make the payment without further aid.
On the U.S. economic front, the Commerce Department released a report before the start of trading showing a smaller than previously estimated contraction in U.S. economic activity in the first quarter.
The report said gross domestic product dipped by 0.2 percent in the first quarter compared to the previously reported 0.7 percent drop.
The modest decrease, which came on the heels of 2.2 percent growth in the fourth quarter, matched economist estimates.
Sector News
Transportation stocks showed a substantial move to the downside over the course of the trading session, dragging the Dow Jones Transportation Average down by 1.9 percent. With the drop, the average fell toward the low end of a recent trading range.
Within the transportation sector, railroad stocks posted particularly steep losses, with the Dow Jones Railroads Index tumbling by 2.8 percent.
Significant weakness also emerged among telecom stocks, as reflected by the 1.6 percent loss posted by the NYSE Arca Telecom Index. The loss pulled the index down to a nearly three-month closing low.
Chemical stocks also came under pressure on the day, resulting in a 1.5 percent drop by the Dow Jones Chemicals Index. Industry giant DuPont (DD) fell 3.4 percent to its worst closing level in over eight months.
Electronic storage, networking, and biotechnology stocks also saw notable weakness, moving lower along with most of the other major sectors.
Other Market
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region saw continued strength during trading on Wednesday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index both rose by 0.3 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index surged up by 2.5 percent.
Meanwhile, the major European markets turned in a mixed performance on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index crept up by 0.2 percent, the French CAC 40 Index edged down by 0.2 percent and the German DAX Index fell by 0.6 percent.
In the bond market, treasuries moved back to the upside following the pullback seen over the two previous sessions. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, fell by 3.8 basis points to 2.371 percent.
Looking Ahead
Reports on weekly jobless claims and personal income and spending may attract some attention on Thursday, although the data is likely to be overshadowed by the latest headlines regarding Greece.
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