The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 218.45 points, or 0.91 percent, to 23,664.64. The S&P 500 decreased 20.02 points, or 0.7 percent, to 2,848.42. The Nasdaq Composite Index increased 45.27 points, or 0.51 percent, to 8,854.39.
Nine of the 11 primary S&P 500 sectors dropped, with utilities and energy closing down 3.5 percent and 2.6 percent, respectively, leading the laggards. Technology and consumer discretionary rose 0.3 percent and 0.7 percent, respectively, the only two gaining groups.
On the data front, private companies in the United States shed around 20.2 million jobs in April as the COVID-19 fallout continues to ripple through the country, U.S. payroll data company Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (ADP) reported on Wednesday.
"Job losses of this scale are unprecedented. The total number of job losses for the month of April alone was more than double the total jobs lost during the Great Recession," Ahu Yildirmaz, co-head of the ADP Research Institute, said in a statement.
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