MarketView for April 17

Summary

It was a broad market selloff on Wednesday, led by a sharp drop in Apple shares on worries about slowing demand for its products and weaker-than-expected results from Bank of America.

Apple slid 5.5 percent to $402.80 after falling below $400 for the first time since December 2011. A key supplier, chipmaker Cirrus Logic, posted a disappointing revenue forecast, fueling worries about weakening demand for the iPhone and iPad.

The CBOE Volatility, a measure of investor anxiety, rose 18.3 percent to 16.51, yet remained well below the 20 mark, however, suggesting market volatility is still considered relatively subdued.

Wednesday's losses were the week's second big sell-off, adding to views the market may be starting the pullback analysts have been speculating about for months. The market has had strong gains since the start of year, yet on Monday, the S&P 500 posted its worst day since November 7 following a sharp drop in gold prices.

Financial stocks also fell after Bank of America posted revenue and earnings numbers that were below Wall Street expectations. Its shares fell 4.7 percent to $11.70.

Besides financials and technology, energy and materials sectors fell sharply along with oil and copper prices. The shares of Chevron were down 1.9 percent to $114.81 and helped lead declines on the Dow.

As Apple shares moved lower, the stock's implied volatility shot higher, reflecting more risk for the stock in the next 30 days.

In a notable technical move, the S&P 500 came close to falling below its 50-day moving average. It has not fallen below the level since the end of last year.

Among other tech decliners, Texas Instruments fell 4.3 percent to $34.21. Yahoo was down 0.4 percent to $23.70 after the Company reported first-quarter revenue that missed expectations.

S&P 500 earnings are now expected to have risen 1.7 percent in the first quarter, based on actual results from 56 companies and estimates for the rest, according to Thomson Reuters data. That expectation is up from a previous estimate of 1.5 percent growth at the start of the month, but so far just 48.2 percent of companies this reporting period have exceeded revenue expectations.

After the closing bell, shares of eBay and memory chipmaker SanDisk fell after reporting results. EBay was down 2.3 percent at $54.80 while shares of SanDisk were down 3.1 percent at $54.

Adding to uncertainty in the market, authorities said a letter sent to President Barack Obama and intercepted at a mail screening facility contained the deadly poison ricin, according to preliminary testing.

Approximately 7.89 billion shares changed hands on the three major equity exchanges, well above the average daily closing volume of about 6.36 billion shares this year.