Tech Stocks Take Hit as Dow Jones Industrial Average Loses 519 Points
Apple, Google, Microsoft and several other top tech companies took a hit on Wall Street Wednesday as the market lost more than 500 points by the end of the day's trading session.
The Dow Jones industrial closed at 10,719.94 points, having lost 519.83, or 4.62% percent; Standard & Poor's closed at 1,120.76 after having lost 51.77 points, or 4.42% percent; and the Nasdaq Composite closed at 2,381.05, after losing 101.47 points, or 4.09%.
The market had been on a roller coaster ride since the opening bell and by mid-afternoon stocks had started on a decidedly downward turn.
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The Federal Reserve announced Tuesday that it would keep interest rates near zero for at least two more years, which gave investors some encouragement and resulted in the Dow closing at 429 points.
However, that news was not enough to sustain investors' enthusiasm into Wednesday, as investors eyed the spreading debt crisis in Europe and considered the long-term effects of America's credit rating decrease.
The S&P downgraded the nation's credit standing from AAA to AA-plus last Friday.
President Barack Obama sought to assure the public Monday that no matter the S&P credit rating that America would always be a AAA country. His words had little positive impact on Wall Street.
Here is a look at some of the top tech companies that got crushed in today's trading:
AMZN - Amazon (-10.96, -5.34%)
AAPL - Apple Inc. (-10.32, -2.76%)
DELL - Dell (-0.77, -5.34%)
EBAY - eBay (-1.01, -3.35%)
GOOG - Google Inc. (-24.40, -4.26%)
HPQ - Hewlett-Packard (-1.67, -5.30%)
INTC - Intel (-0.67, -3.25%)
MSFT - Microsoft Corporation (-1.38, -5.40%)
ORCL - Oracle (-1.12, -4.06%)
YHOO - Yahoo (-0.32, -2.61%)
