(Updates with background on index performance and link tostory)
* All three major indexes in negative territory for 2018
* S&P 500, Dow close below 200-DMAs for first time sinceBrexitvote
* Amazon drops after fresh Trump Twitter attacks
* Indexes down: Dow 1.9 pct, S&P 2.23 pct, Nasdaq 2.74 pct
By Stephen Culp
The first trading day of the second quarter began with abroad selloff concentrated in the technology and consumerdiscretionary sectors, as losses by Amazon.com, Teslaand Microsoft, among others, took center stagefrom retaliatory trade measures
With the S&P 500 in a 10 percent correction from its recordhigh in late January, investors were increasingly concerned anine-year bull market might be in danger of ending.
"It’s more complicated than just a tech selloff. What'shurting everything is that the S&P went through its 200-daymoving average," said Brian Battle, director of trading atPerformance Trust Capital Partners in
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 458.92 points,or 1.9 percent, to end at 23,644.19 after dipping below its200-day moving average. The S&P 500 fell 58.99 points, or2.23 percent, to 2,581.88 and the Nasdaq Compositedropped 193.33 points, or 2.74 percent, to 6,870.12.
Amazon.com was the biggest drag on the S&P 500,down 5.2 percent, as President Donald Trump continued histwitter attacks on the online retailer.
All 11 major sectors of the S&P 500 closed lower, with thebiggest losses seen by the consumer discretionary andtechnology indexes, which were down 2.8 percent and2.5 percent, respectively.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq was dragged lower by Microsoft, Intel, Apple Inc, Facebookand Alphabet.
Shares of Tesla Inc ended the day down 5.1 percentafter the company was reported to be making 2,000 Model 3s perweek, missing its 2,500 target.
The electric automaker's losses extend last week's near14-percent decline as investigations of a fatal
Health insurer Humana Inc's shares closed up 4.4percent on news it was in talks with Walmart to expandtheir partnership or possibly be acquired by the retailer. Walmart stock fell 3.8 percent.
Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a4.17-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 4.14-to-1 ratio favored decliners.
Volume on