Stocks Ended Sharply Lower, Dow Tumbled More Than 600 Points

U.S. stocks ended sharply lower on Wednesday, with the Dow dropping more than 600 points. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 608.01 points, or 2.41%, to 24,583.42. The S&P 500 plunged 84.59 points, or 3.09%, to 2,656.10. The Nasdaq Composite tumbled 329.14 points, or 4.43%, to 7,108.40.

U.S. oil futures settled higher on Wednesday, as domestic gasoline stockpiles posted a drop that was three times bigger than expected. December West Texas Intermediate crude rose 39 cents, or 0.6%, to settle at $66.82 a barrel. December Brent crude lost 27 cents, or nearly 0.4%, to finish at $76.17 a barrel.

Microsoft (MSFT) announced its Q1 2019 earnings on Wednesday, beating analysts’ projections. The tech giant reported earnings of $1.14 per share on $29.1 billion in revenue.