Dollar Tree Slumps 22.2%

Stocks lost more ground on Wall Street Wednesday, led by declines in the technology and energy sectors.

• The S&P 500 fell 8.86 points, or 0.2%, to 5,520.07, following a 2.1% drop a day earlier.
• The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 38.04 points, or 0.1%, to 40,974.97
• The Nasdaq composite fell 52 points, or 0.3%, to 17,084.30.

Job openings in the US fell unexpectedly in July, a sign that hiring could cool in the coming months, the AP reports. The price of US crude oil fell below $70 a barrel.

Shares of US Steel sank 17.5% after the Biden administration signaled that's it's open to formally blocking the company's acquisition by Nippon Steel of Japan. On Monday, Vice President Kamala Harris said during a campaign stop in Pennsylvania that US Steel should remain domestically owned Technology stocks were the biggest weights on the market. Nvidia fell 1.7% in choppy trading. Apple fell 0.9% and Intel slid 3.3%. Health care stocks also helped pull the market lower. Eli Lilly and Co. was 1% lower, Elevance Health dropped 2.7%, and Centene slumped 8.7%.

Dollar Tree slumped 22.2% for the biggest drop among S&P 500 stocks after the discount retailer slashed its full-year earnings forecast. Hormel Foods fell 6.4% after the maker of Spam trimmed its revenue forecast for the year. Department store operator Nordstrom fell 0.2%. Members of the Nordstrom family offered to take the company private for $3.76 billion cash, months after first expressing interest in a buyout.

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The Labor Department reported that there were 7.7 million open jobs in July, down from 7.9 million in June and the fewest since January 2021. Openings have fallen steadily this year, from nearly 8.8 million in January. But overall, the report was mixed, with hiring having risen last month. The employment market is being closely watched by investors and the Federal Reserve as a gauge of the economy's strength. The job openings report hit Wall Street as traders anticipate that the Federal Reserve will start cutting its benchmark interest rate at its meeting later in September. The US will release its monthly jobs report for August on Friday (More stock market stories.)