Investing.com -- U.S. stocks fell broadly for the third straight session as a romp in technology stocks and a continued decline in the energy sector offset gains from a proposed mega deal between EI du Pont de Nemours and Company (N:DD) and Dow Chemical Company (N:DOW), two stalwarts in the chemical industry.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average experienced a swing of nearly 275 points on Wednesday, closing at 17,492.30, down 75.70 or 0.43% after gaining nearly 200 points in the morning session. Investors reacted to a report from the Wall Street Journal that a merger between DuPont and Dow, estimated between $120 and $160 billion, could be completed as early as Thursday. The deal would create the second-largest chemical company ever and result in $3 billion in cost savings for the combined company. Following the merger, the new company could subsequently be split into three divisions consisting of agricultural, material services and specialty product segments. Shares in Dow Chemical jumped 12% to 57.01.
The NASDAQ Composite index lost 75.37 or 1.48% to 5,022.87, amid a major sell-off in a host of prominent tech giants. Shares in Facebook Inc (O:FB), Amazon.com Inc (O:AMZN), Netflix Inc (O:NFLX) and Alphabet Inc (O:GOOGL), popularly known as the FANG stocks, each plummeted more than 1% on the day. While the exact cause of the drop is unknown, rumors persisted that it could have been related to tax-law selling considerations before the end of the calendar year.
The S&P 500 Composite index, meanwhile, fell 15.97 or 0.77% to 2,047.62, as eight of 10 sectors closed in the red. Stocks in the Technology, Financials and Consumer Services sectors lagged, each falling by more than 1% on the day. With the losses, the S&P 500 closed on Wednesday in negative territory for the year.
DuPont finished as the top performer on the Dow, after surging 7.48 or 11.23% to close at 74.08. Shares in the major conglomerate are now down only mildly by approximately 2.5% over the last year. The worst performer on the Dow was Apple Inc (O:AAPL), which fell 2.79 or 2.36% to end the session at 115.44.
The biggest gainer on the NASDAQ was WYNN, which soared 8.17 or 13.22% to 69.97, after CEO Steve Wynn announced that he purchased 1 million shares of the company on Tuesday night in the after-hours session. The billionaire casino mogul is trying to rescue a fledgling stock that has declined by approximately 60% this year, amid slumping revenue at its Macau casino. The worst performer was WHR, which fell 9.61 or 6.10% to 148.05, after analysts at Trade-Ideas, LLC classified as "water-logged," due to unusual volatility and other proprietary factors of late.
Wynn and Dow were the top performers on the S&P 500, ahead of Spectra Energy Corp (N:SE), which gained 1.64 or 7.35% to 23.94. Whirpool was also the worst performer on the S&P, just below Electronic Arts Inc (O:EA) which fell 3.97 or 5.59% to 67.02, after Gamestop cut the price of its Star Wars Battlefront video game.
On the New York Stock Exchange, declining issues outnumbered advancing ones by a 1,851 to 1,218 margin.