NEW YORK — A slump in technology shares Wednesday helped turn early gains in U.S. stock indexes into losses across industries, extending the market’s losing streak to a third day.
Investors sent the Dow Jones industrial average up 200 points in the morning, then began dumping some big tech stocks. Apple fell 2.2 percent, and Microsoft lost 1.5 percent.
By the end of the day, seven of the 10 industry sectors in the Standard and Poor’s 500 index fell. Suppliers of raw materials, the focus of aggressive selling in recent days, rose 3.1 percent as investors hunted for bargains.
“You’ve got two days of massive selling of oil and commodity companies, so perhaps some are oversold,” said Bryn Mawr Trust chief investment officer Ernie Cecilia. He added, though, that they weren’t cheap enough yet for him to join in the buying.
The Dow index lost 75.70 points, or 0.4 percent, to 17,492.30. The S&P 500 gave up 15.97 points, or 0.8 percent, to 2,047.62. The Nasdaq composite dropped 75.38 points, or 1.5 percent, to 5,022.87.
Some of the biggest gainers were stocks that suffered big losses the day before. Freeport McMoRan, a miner that fell 7 percent on Tuesday, rose 3.7 percent, gaining 25 cents to close at $6.99.
Oil drillers, which have been beaten down recently, also rallied. Exxon Mobil and Chevron each rose 1.3 percent, despite another drop in benchmark U.S. oil.
Bill Strazzullo, chief market strategist at Bell Curve Trading, said a recent slump in oil and other major commodities is signaling that the global economy is weak. That could mean more rocky days in the market.
“You got commodities in a death spiral, and that’s not just impacting the U.S., but the global economy,” he said. “Investors are taking off risk.”
Benchmark U.S. crude slipped 35 cents to close at $37.16 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, the international standard, fell 15 cents to close at $40.11 a barrel in London. In other trading, wholesale gasoline rose 2.8 cents to close at $1.232 a gallon, heating oil fell 2 cents to $1.239 a gallon and natural gas fell 0.8 cent to $2.062 per 1,000 cubic feet.
