Stocks close down as Dow, S&P 500 each drop one percent

Stocks fell for a second straight day on Wednesday, joining a global stock sell-off after a disappointing Spanish bond auction.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell for a second-straight session, sliding 124.80 points, or one percent, to 13,074.75, on Wednesday. The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index shed 14.42 points, or one percent, to 1,395, while the Nasdaq Composite lost 45.48 points, or 1.5 percent, to 3,068.09, its steepest decline this year.

Spain sold just €2.589 billion ($3.43 billion) of bonds, at the bottom of its planned range, and at yields that were well above previous auctions.

Following the auction, yields on 10-year Spanish government debt rose to 5.712 percent, from 5.445 percent Tuesday, the highest level since Jan. 9.

Also weighing on sentiment was a revised reading of eurozone business activity in March, which confirmed contraction, as well as a decline in eurozone retail sales in February.

Meanwhile, the European Central Bank left its main interest rate unchanged for the fourth straight month, as expected. In a news conference after the decision, ECB President Mario Draghi warned that risks to growth remained and any discussion of how and when the ECB will unwind its unconventional measures to fight the crisis was premature.

The US market sell-off has come after the minutes of the latest meeting of the Federal Reserve rate-setting committee, released Tuesday, showed little evidence that the central bank was moving toward further easing.

Dow Jones Industrial Average, Nasdaq Composite, European Central Bank

Nypost.com