Dow Off 400+

U.S. stocks fell sharply on Wednesday as a plunge in cryptocurrencies led to massive selling in speculative pockets of the market.

The Dow Jones Industrials fell 412.18 points, or 1.2%, to 33,648.48,

The S&P 500 moved downward 44.35 points, or 1.1%, to 4,083.48, The S&P 500 fell 1% as all 11 sectors traded in the red.

The NASDAQ slumped 121.38 points to 13,182.26, as Microsoft, Facebook, Alphabet and Apple all traded lower. The sell-off became broad-based as the weakness in tech spilled over into other sectors. The exception was a handful of retailers that reported solid earnings including Target and Walmart.

Sentiment in the tech sector was dented by a drop in cryptocurrencies including bitcoin. The world’s largest digital token plunged 30% at its low of the session to just above $30,000 according to Coin Metrics.

Bitcoin has been cut in half since hitting an all-time high above $64,000 in mid-April. On Tuesday, China warned financial institutions not to conduct crypto-related business, possibly sparking the selloff.

Tesla, a big holder of bitcoin, declined 4%. Microstrategy, another company which bought a large amount of bitcoin for its corporate treasury, tanked by 10%. Coinbase, the newly public crypto exchange, tumbled nearly 10%.

Helping the sentiment a bit on Wednesday was better-than-expected results from Target. Shares of the major retailer popped by 3.8% after it said sales surged 23% last quarter.

The Federal Reserve publishes the minutes from its April meeting later Wednesday afternoon, which could add to angst about inflation. The Fed kept its easy policies that meeting, but acknowledged that inflation could rise in coming months. The central bank maintains that these price pressures will be transitory.

Prices for 10-Year Treasurys were unchanged, keeping yields at Tuesday’s 1.64%.

Oil prices sank $2.55 to $62.94 U.S. a barrel.

Gold prices gained $17.60 to $1,885.60 U.S. an ounce.