Pedestrians walk by the New York Stock Exchange, Wednesday, May 18, 2022 in New York.
Wall Street tumbled on Wednesday with Target Corporation losing almost a quarter of its market value, highlighting the inflation worries and growth in the US economy.
Target Corporation, a component of the S&P 500 Index, plunged 24.93%, crashing the most since 1987's Black Monday. The company's first-quarter profit fell by half and the Minneapolis headquartered firm warned about a bigger margin hit on rising fuel and freight costs.
All three main Wall Street indexes -- Dow Jones, Nasdaq and S& 500 are on pace to extend a string of at least six weekly losses.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average sank 1,165.25 points or 3.57 per cent to finish at 34,490.07. The S&P 500 cracked 165.17 points or 4.04 per cent -- its biggest drop since June 2020. The benchmark index is now down more than 18% from the record high it reached the beginning of the year. More than 95% of stocks in the S&P 500 closed lower.
The Nasdaq Composite, a tech-heavy stock index, dropped 566 points or 4.73 per cent to end at 11,418. All the major technology stocks Alphabet, Apple, Microsoft, Meta, Tesla and Amazon slumped between 4 per cent to 7 per cent. Amazon was the top loser with 7.16 per cent, followed by Netflix which finished 7.02 per cent lower.
Apple cracked 5.64 per cent and Meta 5.12 per cent. Microsoft and Alphabet too settled at 4.55 per cent and 3.93 per cent, respectively, lower.
