By Ellis Mnyandu NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks tumbled in a broad sell-off on Wednesday, sending the benchmark S&P 500 lower for a fourth straight day, after weak data on new home sales heightened concerns about the pace of the economic recovery. Financials, technology, materials and industrial sectors, which underpinned the market's advance from March, bore the brunt of the slide as investors reassessed their bets. "The housing data definitely created an additional leg down in the market," said Mike O'Rourke, chief market strategist at institutional brokerage firm BTIG in New York. "A lot of people realize that we're correcting right now and are being cautious." The Nasdaq also logged its fourth straight daily drop. Wednesday's sell-off marked the broader market's worst day of losses in nearly a month. The S&P 500 is now up 54.1 percent from the 12-year closing low of March 9. At Wednesday's close, it showed a drop of 5.04 percent from its post-March closing peak reached a week ago on October 19. The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> dropped 119.48 points, or 1.21 percent, to 9,762.69. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> fell 20.78 points, or 1.95 percent, to 1,042.63. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> slid 56.48 points, or 2.67 percent, to 2,059.61. The CBOE Volatility Index <.VIX>, Wall Street's favorite fear gauge, ended up 12.5 percent, its biggest one-day percentage gain since August. During the session, both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq broke below key technical levels as the sell-off accelerated. Both indexes closed below their 50-day moving average for the first time since July, a bearish technical signal. Among financials, JPMorgan <JPM.N> shares fell 2.8 percent to $42.68, American Express Co <AXP.N> dropped 3.6 percent to $34.67, and the S&P financial index <.GSPF> shed 3.2 percent. On the technology front, Apple Inc's <AAPL.O> slid 2.5 percent to $192.40 made the iPod maker the Nasdaq's top drag. The Dow Jones U.S. home construction index <.DJUSHB> fell 5.5 percent -- its worst one-day percentage slide since May. The S&P materials index <.GSPM> dropped 3.2 percent. Continued... |