by Caroline Valetkevitch

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The New York Stock Exchange ended lower after a mixed session on Wednesday, lifted and then weighed down by technology stocks, amid tensions over a slowing economy fueled by weak demand at a U.S. Treasury bond auction.

The Dow Jones index fell 0.60%, or 234.21 points, to 38,763.45 points.

The broader S&P 500 lost 40.53 points, or 0.77%, to 5,199.50.

The Nasdaq Composite fell by 171.05 points (1.05%) to 16,195.81 points.

With disappointing US employment data and lower-than-expected US business forecasts, investors are worried about the prospect of a recession, even though officials at the US Federal Reserve (Fed) have sought to be reassuring in recent comments.

Initially rising in the wake of technology stocks, which then declined, the main Wall Street indices saw their gains erased over the course of the afternoon, particularly after the auction of US Treasury bonds. They finally tipped into the red.

“There’s a lot of concern about the next eight weeks or so, so I expect more volatility. It wouldn’t be surprising if there were several days of upside and then a reversal,” said Peter Tuz, president of Chase Investment Counsel in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Wall Street was buoyed early in the session by comments from the Bank of Japan’s (BoJ) deputy governor that the institution would not raise interest rates as long as financial markets remained volatile – comments that sent the yen lower and boosted market sentiment.

The BoJ’s unexpected rate hike last week triggered the unwinding of a carry strategy and, in its wake, a fall in Wall Street’s main indices.

In terms of values, note the 4.5% drop in Walt Disney on Wednesday after saying it anticipated a “moderation in demand” for its theme parks in the coming quarters.

Super Micro Computer plunged 20.1% after reporting quarterly results that missed expectations.

(Written by Jean Terzian)

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