By Yasin Ebrahim

Investing.com — The S&P 500 slumped Wednesday, as big tech resumed its selloff and a rout in Target A sell-off occurred in the retail sector after weaker than expected quarterly results.

They fell by 3.4% and 3.1% respectively, 1,023 points. The dropped 4.3%.

Target Corporation (NYSE 🙂 plunged more than 27% following reporting that it fell short of expectations. Target Corporation also cut its margin guidance, citing continuing cost pressures.

Lowe’s Companies (NYSE:) also contributed to the gloom, falling about 6%, after reporting mixed as revenue and comparable-store sales fell short of Wall Street estimates. 

Retailers saw a sharp drop in sales after the quarterly results. Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ) was down, as were Walmart (NYSE) and Dollar Tree. TJX Companies (NYSE:) bucked the trend lower, rising more than 8% after the discount retailer’s topped estimates on both the top and bottom lines. 

As investors continued to mull over the possibility of monetary policy tightening becoming more hawkish, Big Tech lost some of its gains.

Fed Chairman Powell said on Tuesday the central bank would “keep pushing” interest rates higher until the pace of inflation cools.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ) and Apple.com (NASDAQ) were the leaders in big tech, with a drop of more than 6 and 4 percent respectively.

Treasury yields struggled to rise in the meantime, due to safe-haven purchasing as investors continue to be concerned about slowing economic growth and policy tightening by global central banks.

Oil prices were negative, and energy stocks fell more than 3% as investors weighed on sentiment regarding risk assets.

Halliburton Company (NYSE 🙂 Marathon Oil Corporation (NASDAQ) and APA Corporation were two of the largest sector decliners. The latter was down over 6%.

In the face of increasing mortgage rates, the economy saw housing activity slow down.

A gauge for U.S. homebuilding declined 0.2% in April, reaching a seasonal adjusted annual rate at 1.724million.