U.S. stocks drop as tech slides

NEW YORK, March 30 (Xinhua)-- U.S. stocks fell on Wednesday, dragged by weakness in major tech names.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 65.38 points, or 0.19 percent, to 35,228.81. The S&P 500 lost 29.15 points, or 0.63 percent, to 4,602.45. The Nasdaq Composite Index decreased 177.37 points, or 1.21 percent, to 14,442.27.

Seven of the 11 primary S&P 500 sectors ended in red, with consumer discretionary and technology down 1.51 percent and 1.36 percent, respectively, leading the laggards. Energy rallied 1.17 percent, the best-performing group.

Shares of U.S. tech giants, such as Apple, Amazon, Meta Platforms, Netflix and Google-parent Alphabet, all closed lower.

U.S.-listed Chinese companies traded mostly lower with seven the top 10 stocks by weight in the S&P U.S. Listed China 50 index ending the day on a downbeat note.

On the economic front, private companies in the United States added 455,000 jobs in March, payroll data company Automatic Data Processing (ADP) reported Wednesday. Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal had forecast a gain of 450,000 private sector jobs.

The more closely-watched monthly employment report is set to be released by the Labor Department on Friday, which will include employment data from both the private sector and the government.