Stocks Plunge, Erasing Gains for the Year

Stocks are closing sharply lower on Wall Street, led by a swoon in technology companies, the AP reports. The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average erased their gains for the year. High-flying companies like Netflix and Amazon took some of the biggest losses Wednesday. Netflix gave back 9.4% and Amazon dropped 5.9%. Several companies sustained heavy drops after reporting disappointing results. Texas Instruments, a major chipmaker, slumped 8.2% and AT&T fell 8.1%. The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite is now 12.3% below its August peak. The S&P 500 index fell 84 points, or 3.1%, to 2,656. The Dow fell 608 points, or 2.4%, to 24,583. The Nasdaq composite gave up 329 points, or 4.4%, to 7,108. (More stock market stories.)