Investing.com - The Dow's December blues continued after it fell sharply for a second-straight day Thursday amid fears of a government shutdown and ongoing concerns over the Federal Reserve's plan to continue raising interest rates.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.99%, taking losses for the month so far to about 13%. The S&P 500 slumped 1.58%, while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 1.63%.
Turmoil in Washington tanked stocks as the U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan said President Donald Trump would not sign a temporary government funding resolution, raising the risk of a partial government shutdown.
Sentiment on stocks was also rocked by trade concerns after the U.S. and many of its allies accused the Chinese government of carrying out industrial espionage through cyberwarfare.
The months-long trade war between the U.S. and China is on ice for 90 days until March next year as both nations seek to reach a consensus on trade.
Tech, meanwhile, exacerbated the decline, with Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) struggling to pare losses as its legal troubles continued to mount.
A German court said the iPhone maker could no longer sell some iPhone models, which contain a particular component that infringed a hardware patent of Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM). But the ruling will not go into immediate effect if Apple appeals, judge Matthias Zigann told the court.
Plunging energy stocks continued to accelerate downside momentum in the broader market as U.S. oil prices slid 5% as concerns about a glut in supply continued to weigh.
Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA), meanwhile, weighed heavily on healthcare after its restructuring program targeting cost cuts of $1 billion over the next three years was not welcomed by investors. Its shares fell 5%.
On the corporate earnings front, Nike (NYSE:NKE) rallied in after-hours trade as the sportswear giant posted quarterly results that beat on both the top and bottom lines.
The selloff on Wall Street is not expected to relent any time soon as the Fed's plan to continue tightening and a wobble in global growth will remain headwinds, analysts warned.
"(The) Fed revised down its outlook for future rate increases and made other dovish changes to its message. But it was not dovish enough to support markets increasingly driven by concerns over slowing economic growth. We think this trend could continue for at least a few more weeks," Goldman Sachs said in a note.
Top S&P 500 Gainers and Losers Today:
Newmont Mining (NYSE:NEM), AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) and PPL (NYSE:PPL) were among the top S&P 500 gainers for the session.
Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX), ConAgra Foods (NYSE:CAG) and Carnival (NYSE:CCL) were among the worst S&P 500 performers of the session.