Dow, S&P 500 sell off as traders throw in the towel on a long year

By Daniel Shvartsman

Investing.com -- A market sell-off accelerated in Wednesday morning trade, as traders and investors looked to get 2022, the worst year for U.S. stocks since 2008, behind them.

At 11:20 ET (16:20 GMT), the S&P 500 traded 0.64% lower to 3805, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 150 points or 0.5% to 33093. The Nasdaq Composite sold off .8%, coming off a more than 1% loss to start the week. The small cap Russell 2000 index dropped 0.75% in morning trading.

Hong Kong announced it would end more of its COVID-related restrictions, fueling the general China reopening theme that emerged Tuesday when Beijing made a similar announcement. But it has not been enough to keep stocks green. China-based stocks Pinduoduo (NASDAQ:PDD) (-6.7%), JD.com Inc Adr (NASDAQ:JD) (-5.3%), and Alibaba Group Holdings Ltd ADR (NYSE:BABA) (-3.4%) each fell back, giving up gains from Tuesday's rally.

One of the stocks in the spotlight Wednesday was Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA), which came off a 11.4% drop on Tuesday. The electric vehicle manufacturer rose as much as 6% in early trading before falling back to about even, as analysts rushed in to assess the situation, with Baird tabbing Tesla a best idea for 2023. Electric vehicle peer Lucid Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:LCID) also fell back from a strong rebound, though it remains up 1.55% in morning trading.

Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) dropped 3% in morning trading, as The Information reported that Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) was doubling down on Prime video and developing a stand-alone sports watching app. Amazon moved .8% lower in Wednesday action.

Other notable movers were SolarEdge Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:SEDG) and Enphase Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:ENPH), as the two solar energy companies continued their downward trajectory this week, down 5% and 3.1% respectively. Southwest Airlines Company (NYSE:LUV) dropped another 2.2% as reporting continued around its scheduling crisis after recent heavy weather in the U.S.

Generac Holdings Inc. (NYSE:GNRC) held a 3.8% gain to be the leading gainer on the S&P 500, up 3% as Janney tabbed the stock as a buy and Northland Securities called the power company a best idea for 2023.

Wednesday's economic data was mixed, as pending home sales dropped 4% for November, worse than expected, while manufacturing data from the Richmond Federal Reserve suggested improving conditions, and came in better than expected.

Oil prices dropped further through Wednesday trading, handing back the previous session's gains. Crude Oil WTI Futures dropped 2.1% to $77.86per barrel, while Brent Oil Futures dropped 1.9% to $83.

The American Petroleum Institute is due to release data on U.S. crude inventories Wednesday after market close, and stocks are expected to have fallen, adding to last week's 3 million barrel draw.

Additionally, gold futures fell 0.9% to $1,807/oz, while EUR/USD traded 0.15% lower to $1.0622. Bitcoin traded 1.1% lower to $16,605, not getting much of a bid from news that MicroStrategy (NASDAQ:MSTR), bitcoin bull Michael Saylor's company, had added to their bitcoin pile, buying 2,395 bitcoins at an average price of $17,871.

(Article published at 9:45am ET, updated at 10:48am ET and 11:24am ET)