NEW YORK, Nov. 13 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks tumbled on Thursday as investors sold shares in technology companies and volatility picked up on Wall Street.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 797.60 points, or 1.65 percent, to 47,457.22. The S&P 500 sank 113.43 points, or 1.66 percent, to 6,737.49. The Nasdaq Composite Index shed 536.10 points, or 2.29 percent, to 22,870.36.
Ten of the 11 primary S&P 500 sectors ended in red, with consumer discretionary and technology leading the laggards by dropping 2.73 percent and 2.37 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, energy bucked the trend by rising 0.31 percent.
With the U.S. federal government shutdown resolved, investors turned their attention to the backlog of delayed government economic data and its potential impact on the Federal Reserve's policy outlook. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that the U.S. GDP could be about 11 billion U.S. dollars lower by the end of 2026 than previously projected due to the disruption.
Uncertainty over the economic outlook has complicated expectations for interest-rate cuts in December and beyond. Markets are now pricing in roughly 50-50 odds of a rate reduction at the Fed's next meeting, compared with about 95 percent a month ago following a string of hawkish comments from central bank officials.
"The gears of the government should be working again soon, and while that is a relief for markets and the economy, there is still plenty of uncertainty, particularly around the missed inflation and jobs data and how these fronts have been faring," said Carol Schleif, chief market strategist at BMO Private Wealth.
Technology shares led the market lower, particularly those tied to the artificial intelligence boom. Tesla, Palantir Technologies, Arm Holdings, AppLovin, Shopify, Nvidia and Broadcom all posted steep declines. "Investors are reevaluating the prices they're paying for big tech and AI stocks," said Ross Mayfield, an investment strategist at Baird.
