Stocks fall as tech takes a beating

Thomson Reuters

Traders work near the end of the day on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in New York

Stocks were mostly lower Wednesday, with the Nasdaq Composite dropping more than 1%, as Congress questioned executives from Twitter and Facebook. The dollar fell, and Treasury yields remained largely unchanged.

Here's the scoreboard:

Dow Jones industrial average: 25,975.67 +23.19 (+0.089%)

S&P 500: 2,886.87 −9.85 (-0.34%)

Nasdaq Composite: 7,995.17 −96.07 (-1.19%)

1. Executives from Twitter and Facebook testified before Congress. In back-to-back House and Senate hearings, lawmakers questioned Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey about political content and how the companies are preparing to combat foreign-meddling threats ahead of midterms. The hearings sent tech stocks lower.
2. The US trade deficit jumped to a five-month high. The gap with China hit a record peak, just before the Trump administration is expected to announce it will enact additional tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese products. The trade deficit has been a main source of frustration for President Donald Trump, who sees it as a sign of economic weakness.
3. NAFTA negotiations between the US and Canada drag on. As part of last-ditch efforts to modernize the 1994 agreement, high-level trade officials met in Washington to discuss ongoing issues such as tariffs on metal and dairy products. Last week, Trump threatened to hit Canada with duties on auto imports and to exclude the country from a trade agreement with Mexico.

And a look at the upcoming economic calendar:

• Employment and wage numbers are out in the US and Canada.
• China releases trade balance data.