At the close of trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average index stumbled 652.22 points, or 1.86%, to 34,483.72. The S&P500 index retreated 88.27 points, or 1.9%, to 4,567. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index tanked 245.14 points, or 1.55%, to 15,537.69.
Total volume turnover on U.S. exchanges stood at 14.12 billion shares, up from yesterday's 9.51 billion shares. Declining stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE exchange by 2711 to 708 and 144 closed unchanged. In the NASDAQ, 1398 issues advanced, 3334 issues declined, and 204 issues unchanged.
All 11 S&P500 sectors ended down, with communication services (down 3%) was worst performing sector, followed by consumer staples (down 2.73%), industrials (down 2.55%), energy (down 2.5%), and materials (down 2.48%) sectors.
The sell-off on Wall Street partly reflected on renewed fears around the omicron Covid variant after Moderna's CEO raises worries over Covid-19 vaccines effectiveness against Omicron variant. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals has also warned its Covid-19 antibody cocktail and similar drugs could be less effective against the Omicron variant.
The selloff accelerated later in the day after the U.S. Fed chief indicated the central bank could hasten a tightening of monetary policy. Federal Reserve Jerome Powell suggested during Congressional testimony that the central bank would discuss accelerating the pace at which it reduces its asset purchases during the next monetary policy meeting to contend with inflation. In early November, the Fed announced plans to begin reducing its $120 billion in monthly bond purchases by $15 billion per month.
Crude oil prices slid with concerns that a global economy weakened by omicron would burn less fuel. Benchmark U.S. crude dropped 5.4% and touched its lowest level in three months. Brent crude, the international standard, fell 3.9%.
Among Indian ADR, WNS Holdings fell 2.11% to $84.07, HDFC Bank fell 2.5% to $65.47, Wipro dropped 0.23% to $8.54, INFOSYS sank 0.18% to $22.58, Azure Power Global declined 3.83% to $20.60, ICICI Bank fell 2.79% to $18.46, and Tata Motors dropped 1.36% to $30.54. Dr Reddys Labs rose 0.95% to $62.44.
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