By Yasin Ebrahim

Investing.com — The Dow slumped Wednesday, as a selloff in tech and a plunge in Target’s following weaker-than-expected quarterly results triggered a selloff in retailers that pushed stocks to their biggest one-day loss since 2020. 

This was the biggest single-day decline since 2020, with a drop of 3.6% (1,162 points). The fell 3.9%, and  fell 4.7%, down more than 26% on the year.

Target Corporation (NYSE: ) dropped more than 24% following reporting that it fell short of expectations. The company also reduced its guidance for margins, citing continuing cost pressures.

Lowe’s Companies (NYSE:) also contributed to the gloom, falling 5%, after reporting mixed as revenue and comparable-store sales fell short of Wall Street estimates. 

Quarterly results caused a retail selloff with Walmart (NYSE;), Costco Wholesale(NASDAQ:), and Dollar Tree (NASDAQ.) all falling sharply. TJX Companies (NYSE:) bucked the trend lower, rising more than 7% after the discount retailer’s that topped estimates.

The gains of Big Tech were trimmed as investors continued to mull over the possibility that monetary policy will become more restrictive.

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 7 and 5%, respectively.

Treasury yields, however, have been struggling to increase, due to safe-haven purchasing as investors continue to be concerned about slowing economic growth amid tighter policy measures from the global central banks.

After oil prices fell, energy stocks plunged more than 3 percent. This was due to negative sentiment about risk assets and the strength of the dollar.

Halliburton Company (NYSE 🙂 Marathon Oil Corporation (NYSE) and APA Corporation(NASDAQ:) were the two biggest sectors that suffered, the former dropping more than 6%.

Housing activity continued to decline in spite of the rising interest rates.

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