A selloff in technology stocks dragged on the S&P 500 and Nasdaq on Wednesday, with investors also cautious about brewing US-China tensions at a time when policymakers are attempting to revive the global economy from a coronavirus-driven slump.
Index heavyweights Amazon.com, Microsoft Corp and Facebook Inc, which have led a recent rally, were down more than 2%, while healthcare and technology - outperformers in the coronavirus-led market slump - were among the S&P 500 sectors in the red.
Five of the 11 major S&P sectors were higher, with financials leading gains. The bank index jumped 4.4% but was still down more than 20% this year.
"The core theme is a rotation out of the high flying tech stocks and a move into laggard sectors which have underperformed, like banks," said Thomas Hayes, managing member at Great Hill Capital LLC in New York.
At 11:27 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 167.18 points, or 0.67%, at 25,162.29. The S&P 500 was down 2.45 points, or 0.08%, at 2,989.32 and the Nasdaq Composite was down 116.58 points, or 1.25%, at 9,223.64.
Facebook Inc and Twitter Inc slipped 3.2% and 4.7%, respectively, after Trump threatened to shutter social media companies a day after Twitter prompted readers to fact check his tweets.