Wall Street ends down one percent, led by Apple, energy sector

By Caroline Valetkevitch

(Reuters) - U.S. stocks ended more than 1 percent lower on Wednesday after rallying the day before, led by declines in Apple shares and in energy companies, which fell with oil prices.

Apple shares ended down 1.9 percent at $110.15 in heavy trading, erasing earlier gains as it launched new products in San Francisco.

Chief Executive Tim Cook announced a new version of the Apple TV with an app store and voice-controlled remote control. Some analysts said investors sold Apple shares because expectations were so high heading into the event.

Among Apple's suppliers, Qualcomm shares fell 1.6 percent at $54.32, Skyworks Solutions was down 1.5 percent at $86.42 and Avago Technologies was down 1.5 percent at $127.17. U.S.-traded shares of STMicroelectronics NV fell 6 percent to $7.04.

 

Energy <.SPNY> led declines among S&P 500 sectors, falling 1.9 percent as U.S. oil prices settled down 3.9 percent. Chevron was down 2.5 percent at $74.92.

The volatile session reversed early gains of as much as 1 percent. Indexes had rallied more than 2 percent on Tuesday.

"We had a nice rally yesterday based on an oversold position. There really wasn't anything to create a follow-through, so the buying just kind of ran out of steam," said Bucky Hellwig, senior vice president at BB&T Wealth Management in Birmingham, Alabama.

"Investors are still looking for policy developments out of China, and also wary of what might come out of the Fed next week."

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> fell 239.11 points, or 1.45 percent, to 16,253.57, the S&P 500 <.SPX> lost 27.37 points, or 1.39 percent, to 1,942.04 and the Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> dropped 55.40 points, or 1.15 percent, to 4,756.53.

U.S. job openings surged in July, Labour Department data showed, suggesting strength in the economy ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve's interest rate meeting next week.

Overseas, China's Ministry of Finance said the government will strengthen fiscal policy, boost infrastructure spending and speed up tax reform, adding steps to reenergize growth.

Global financial markets have been rattled in recent weeks by fears that China's slowdown could drag on already sluggish global growth, prompting some investors to bet that the U.S. central bank will delay a hike until the end of the year.

Barnes & Noble fell 27.6 percent to $11.80. The largest U.S. bookstore chain reported a decline in sales for the fifth consecutive quarter.

Tetraphase Pharmaceuticals sank 78.8 percent to $9.49 after its experimental bowel drug failed to meet the main goal in a late-stage study.

Netflix , which was up 4.4 percent at $99.18, broke a seven-day losing streak and was among the biggest boosts to the S&P 500.

NYSE declining issues outnumbered advancers 2,301 to 744, for a 3.09-to-1 ratio; on the Nasdaq, 1,949 issues fell and 865 advanced, for a 2.25-to-1 ratio favouring decliners.

The S&P 500 posted 4 new 52-week highs and 3 lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 43 new highs and 51 lows.

About 7.2 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges, below the 7.4 billion daily average for the month to date, according to data from BATS Global Markets.

(Editing by Nick Zieminski)