Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., October 24, 2018. (Photo/Agencies)
U.S. stocks closed sharply lower on Wednesday as investor sentiment was slammed by corporate earnings outlook as well as tech sell-off.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 608.01 points, or 2.41 percent, to 24,583.42. The S&P 500 erased 84.59 points, or 3.09 percent, to 2,656.10. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 329.14 points, or 4.43 percent, to 7,108.40.
Both the Dow and the S&P 500 have wiped out their gains this year while the Nasdaq is in the correction territory.
AT&T reported adjusted earnings per share of 90 cents, missing market expectation. Shares of the company tumbled more than 8 percent at closing.
United Parcel Service registered adjusted earnings per share of 1.82 U.S. dollars, in line with analysts' expectations. Its revenue stood at 17.44 billion dollars, narrowly missing expectations.
The company's shares fell 5.52 percent after it said U.S. trade policies weighed on its operating profits.
Dow component Boeing reported adjusted earnings of 3.58 U.S. Dollars per share and revenue of 25.15 billion dollars, topping analysts forecast.
The aerospace giant raised its full-year 2018 earnings forecast to a range of 14.90 dollars to 15.10 dollars, up from its previous guidance of 14.30 dollars to 14.50 dollars.
On Wednesday, big tech names all registered a considerable amount of loss. Both Facebook and Amazon dropped more than 5 percent while Alphabet declined 4.8 percent. Netflix fell 9.4 percent as investors second-guessed valuations for the once high-flying video streamer.
On the economic front, new home sales tumbled 5.5 percent in September to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 553,000 units, according to the commerce department.
The data fueled worries about a slowing economy and hit homebuilder stocks.
