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S&P 500 Suffers Worst Losses Since September On White House Crisis

X Stocks deepened their losses into the close on Wednesday, as the latest accusations against the White House stirred deepening uncertainty in the nation's capital.

The Nasdaq sliced 2.6% lower, its worst loss since June. The Dow Jones industrial average and the S&P 500 each lopped off 1.8%, the worst session for both since the Sept. 9 sell-off that followed comments from Federal Reserve officials that all but assured a rate hike that month.

Volume roared, up significantly on both the NYSE and the Nasdaq exchanges.

The trigger appeared to be news reports that notes by former FBI Director James Comey during a February meeting with President Trump, just after National Security Advisor Michael Flynn had resigned, portrayed the president pressing the director to drop the agency's probe of Flynn. Trump fired Comey on May 9. The White House has so far given conflicting reasons for Comey's firing.

Markets in Europe carved out sizable losses, with the CAC 40 in Paris ending down 1.6% and Frankfurt's DAX taking a 1.4% loss.

Chips, Fiber Optics, Banks Take Hardest Hits

Fiber-optic stocks had some of the day's worst losses. Oclaro (OCLR) tanked 9.5% and Lumentum Holdings (LITE) skidded 8%. Finisar (FNSR) unraveled 9% and Applied Optoelectronics (AAOI) caved 5.5%.

Superregional and investment banks were also hit hard. SVB Financial (SIVB) and SunTrust (STI) shed 6% apiece. So did Morgan Stanley (MS) and Bank of America (BAC). Dow component Goldman Sachs (GS) fell 5%. Huntington Bancshares (HBAN) and Comerica (CMA) dived 6% apiece.

Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan (JPM) presented the worst losses among Dow industrials. Apple (AAPL) soured 3%.

UnitedHealth Group (UNH) logged the strongest gain among blue chips, up 0.4% despite the U.S. Department of Justice launching its second suit against the Medicare Advantage provider in less than a month, alleging more than $1.1 billion in billing fraud.

Colgate Palmolive (CL) squeezed out a 6% gain to lead the S&P 500, after news reports said CEO Ian Cook had said he'd be open to selling the company at $100 per share. The comment, which valued the personal products company near $88 billion, reportedly was made during a conference with institutional investors.

Chipmakers scored the worst losses among S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 stocks. Micron Technologies (MU) dived 7% to mark the bottom of both lists. Nvidia (NVDA) also dropped 7%, ending a five-day breakout rally. It's now negative for the week.

Among companies reporting quarterly earnings, both Jack in the Box (JACK) and Qiwi (QIWI) rattled off 6% gains. Qiwi pared its early 12% gain to end in buy range above a 20.42 buy point in a three-weeks-tight pattern.

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