US stocks slide despite Asian gains; Apple weighs

Dow falls 1.45%, S&P 500 1.39%; oil prices end sharply lower

US stocks fell on Wednesday, weighed down by a slide in Apple's share price and weakness in the energy sector, though European and major Asian bourses earlier ended higher.

Oil prices ended sharply lower, pressured by ongoing concerns about oversupply and bets that demand may slow with global economic growth. 

"Investors are still looking for policy developments out of China, and also wary of what might come out of the Fed next week," said Bucky Hellwig, senior vice president at BB&T Wealth Management in Birmingham, Alabama.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 1.45%, to 16,253.57, while the S&P 500 lost 1.39% to 1,942.04 and the Nasdaq Composite ended down 1.15% at 4,756.53.

Shares of Apple ended down 1.9% at $110.15 in heavy trading, after its latest product launch failed to meet expectations.

US energy stocks led declines among S&P 500 index stocks, falling 1.9% as US oil prices fell 3.9%. Chevron CVX.N was down 2.5% at $74.92.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index rose 1.4% and the JP Morgan world equity index gained 0.3%.

Earlier Wednesday major stock markets had rallied on expectation of increased government support from China and the possibility that Japan will cut corporate taxes.

Japan's Nikkei earlier soared 7.7%, its biggest single-day gain since October 2008, galvanized by hopes of corporate tax cuts.

China's Finance Ministry said on Wednesday it would strengthen fiscal policy, boost infrastructure spending and speed up tax reform, helping lift Chinese shares for a second day.

Investors' increased appetite for risk overseas saw the US dollar firm against the safe-haven yen and the euro, but the greenback's gains were lost as Wall Street stocks reversed course.

The euro was little changed against the US currency at $1.1206 while the yen was also near flat at 120.47 per dollar. The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, was nearly flat.

Benchmark Brent crude oil was down 4.3% at $47.41 a barrel. US crude fell 4% to $44.11 per barrel.

US 10-year Treasury yields were at 2.1953%, with a slight loss of less than 1/32 in price.

Copper hit a seven-week high above $5,400 a tonne on the back of the Chinese stimulus news and was recently up 0.4% at $5,365 a tonne.

Gold