Healthcare And Materials Push Stocks Down, Oil Sinks 3%

The healthcare and materials pulled down stocks on Wednesday, a day after the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 closed near record high levels.

The benchmark S&P 500 fell 0.5% to 2,175.68, the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 0.3% to 18,484.36 and the Nasdaq declined 0.8% to 5,217.69.

Amongst the ten S&P sectors, materials and healthcare stocks suffered the biggest losses with over 1% decline each. Amongst the materials, biggest losers included Newmont Mining corp, down 7.4%, Freeport -McMoRan, down 6.5%, and Alcoa , down 4.1%.

Economy: The U.S. existing home sales decreased 3.2% in July from June to 5.39 million, according to the National Association of Realtors.

Amongst the notable stocks, GPS device maker Garmin dropped 6% after Goldman Sachs lowered its rating to sell from neutral on concerns of high competition from Fitbit and Apple and slowing growth in its wearable fitness device business.

Intuit ’s stock was down 3.6% as the maker of turbo tax software offered lower than expected guidance for its fiscal first quarter. The company forecasted earnings of 1 cent to 3 cents a share and revenue of $740 million to $760 million for the current quarter below analysts projection of earnings of 13 cents a share and $773 million in revenue.

Shares of Mylan Pharmaceuticals slid 5.5% on Wednesday as the company faced continued criticism for raising the price of its potentially lifesaving medication, EpiPen by 400% since its acquisition in 2007.

Fashion retailer Express shares dived 25% as the company delivered lower than expected quarterly results and lowered its guidance on comparable sales and profit for the year. The retailer said that same-store revenue dropped 8% compared to a 7% increase last year. Net Sales slipped 6% to $504.8 million and earnings came in at 13 cents a share.

Safe Havens: Gold price was down 1.25% to $1,329 an ounce and the yield on 10-year Treasury was trading at 1.55%.

Oil: Crude slipped 2.8% to $46.7 a barrel as U.S. crude stockpiles rose last week, bringing back fears of a supply glut.