Markets

Two-thirds of the S&P 500 is in a correction as sell-off worsens

Key Points
  • Two-thirds of the stocks in the S&P 500 were in correction territory or worse on Wednesday.
  • There were 190 components in correction territory, meaning they have fallen by 10 to 20 percent from their 52-week high.
  • Meanwhile, another 142 stocks were down 20 percent from that level, sitting in bear market territory.
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, (NYSE) in New York, U.S., February 5, 2018.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters

Two-thirds of the stocks in the  ended the trading session in correction territory or worse on Wednesday, as a sell-off led by technology names deepened a steep drop for the index in October.

When the dust settled on Wednesday, 332 of the S&P's 505 components — or 66 percent of the index — had fallen by 10 percent or more from their 52-week highs. The S&P 500 fell 3.3 percent at 2,785 amid fears of rising interest rates and the flight from tech stocks.

There were 190 components in correction territory, meaning they have fallen by 10 to 20 percent from their 52-week highs. The stocks in correction included retail names like Michael Kors, financials such as Citigroup, and tech giants Amazon and Google's parent Alphabet.

Meanwhile, another 142 stocks were down 20 percent from their recent peak, sitting in bear market territory. Tech components Intel, Facebook and Twitter were among those names, as were automakers Ford and GM and industrials American Airlines and GE.

Wednesday's losses pushed the S&P's drop this month to more than 4.4 percent, with the index posting its first five-day losing streak since late 2016.