US stocks suffer worst one-day loss in 3 months due to overbought markets

US stocks suffered their worst one-day loss in three months on Wednesday, with the three major equity indexes tumbling more than 2 per cent each, amid fears the market had been overbought after a rally with few breaks since late October.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average, the broadest gauge of the New York Stock Exchange, lost 634 points, or 2.1 per cent, to close the day 30,303. The last time the index lost more was on October 28, when it fell 3.5 per cent.

The S & P 500, a barometer for the top 500 US stocks, settled down 2.6 per cent at 3,751.

The technology-laden Nasdaq index, which counts on the performance of industry giants such as Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Google, also tumbled 2.6 per cent to finish at 13,271.

"It's a jittery moment for markets at the start of the year, with investors craving constant reassurance that the rug won't be pulled out from beneath them," Craig Erlam, an analyst at New York-based equities broker OANDA. "The current COVID situation creating near-term uncertainty (and) it would be perfectly natural for investors to be taking a breather under the circumstances.