Stocks fell on Wednesday as shares of Apple rolled over and dipped briefly into a bear market before recovering. A decline in bank shares also pressured the broader market.
The Dow Jones Industrials plummeted 205.99 points to finish Wednesday at 25,080.50
The S&P 500 fell 20.6 points to 2,701.58, clinching its fifth straight day of losses. The broad index is now in the red for the month of November following October's 7% tumble.
The NASDAQ slumped 64.48 points to 7,136.39.
Apple fell 2.8% and briefly traded 20% below its all-time high, dipping into a bear market. The decline comes after Guggenheim downgraded the stock and UBS cut its iPhone estimates. Investors have been worried the company's iPhone sales will slow down in the near future. The stock had traded higher earlier on Wednesday and closed 19.9% from its record high reached earlier this year.
Bank stocks were punished, after Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters said the Trump administration's efforts to curb banking regulations "will come to an end." Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan Chase and Citigroup all traded lower.
Market sentiment was also hurt by comments from New Jersey Rep. Bill Pascrell. In an interview with Bloomberg News, the Democrat lawmaker said the updated trade deal between the U.S., Canada and Mexico needs to be changed before it can pass through Congress.
Oil stocks prospered, led by gains in Apache and ConocoPhillips. Both stocks rose more than 3%.
Investors breathed a sigh of relief, however, as the latest data showed U.S. inflation is still tame.
The consumer price index rose 0.3% in October — in line with expectations — boosted by higher gasoline prices, used cars and housing. The so-called core CPI, which strips out food and energy costs, missed estimates on an annualized basis, coming in at 2.1%. This is also lower than a previous reading of 2.2%.
Prices for the benchmark for the 10-year U.S. Treasury regained lost ground, lowering yields to 3.13% from Tuesday’s 3.14%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices rose 36 cents to $56.05 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices popped $10.60 at $1,212 U.S. an ounce.
