US STOCKS- Wall St ends lower as Nasdaq rout persists

(Updates to close, adds commentary)
By Sinéad Carew
NEW YORK, Sept 4 (Reuters) - The Nasdaq closed lower on
Friday though well above its session low as selling eased late
in the day after investors dumped heavyweight technology stocks
due to concerns about high valuations and a patchy economic
recovery.
The major indexes regained some ground in late afternoon
though trading was volatile.
At its lowest point of the day the tech-heavy Nasdaq fell as
much as 9.9% from its record high reached on Wednesday and the
S&P 500 dipped briefly below its pre-crisis record, reached in
February, although both indexes closed above their session lows.
Mega-cap companies Apple Inc AAPL.O , Microsoft Inc
MSFT.O , Amazon.com Inc AMZN.O and Facebook Inc FB.O also
pared losses during the session.
"You had a significant sell-off on Thursday, some
follow-through in the morning and then we stabilized. The
selling was pretty fierce," said Michael Antonelli, market
strategist at Baird in Milwaukee.
"Corrections like this have been quick and severe lately. We
don't know if its over. The fact we stabilized today could be a
good sign," he said.
While Thursday's sell-off already reflected investor fears
that valuations for the Nasdaq high-flyers had overheated, the
worries were exacerbated on Friday by the Financial Times (FT)
and others reporting that options trading by Japan's Softbank
9984.T had inflated these stocks.
"We've started to see signs of weakness in the last few
days, notably yesterday. Then you get a headline like the FT
story. That really adds fuel to the fire on the downside," said
Jeffrey Kleintop, chief global investment strategist at Charles
Schwab in Boston.
Nasdaq had powered the stock market's stellar recovery from
the coronavirus-led crash, climbing as much as 82% from March
lows while the benchmark S&P 500 and Dow had surged about 60%
from their troughs.
Earlier on Friday, the Labor Department's closely watched
employment report showed the jobless rate improved to 8.4% from
10.2% in July, better than analysts had anticipated. Nonfarm
payrolls, however, increased less than expected last month.
Kleintop argued that the jobs news did little to help the
progress of stalled talks for a fresh coronavirus stimulus
package among sharply divided lawmakers in Washington.
"It wasn't wonderful enough to get the market excited enough
that we don't need any more stimulus. On the other hand it
wasn't weak enough to bring the two sides in Washington together
to extend that stimulus package," he said.
Unofficially, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell
160.96 points, or 0.57%, to 28,131.77, the S&P 500 .SPX lost
28.31 points, or 0.82%, to 3,426.75 and the Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC dropped 144.97 points, or 1.27%, to 11,313.13.
Fund managers warned Thursday's declines may be a preview of
a rocky two months ahead of the Nov. 3 presidential election as
institutional investors return from summer vacations and also
refocus on potential economic pitfalls. Wall Street's fear gauge .VIX , after hitting a more than
11-week high in late morning trading, was lower in afternoon
trading.
Broadcom Inc AVGO.O gained ground after the Apple Inc
AAPL.O supplier forecast fourth-quarter revenue above
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Growth stocks' record dominance on Wall Street https://tmsnrt.rs/3325kcV
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