The biotech sector continued to fall sending the markets plummeting to a sharply lower close with the Dow collapsing 312 points to 16,001. Nasdaq crashed 142 points to 4,543.
On the upside
Republic Airways Holdings (Nasdaq: RJET) reached a tentative agreement with its pilots union for a new three-year contract.
On the downside
Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO) introduced new updates to its advertising technology but the stock price fell.
Ignyta (Nasdaq: RXDX) reported updated interim data from Phase 1 clinical trials of entrectinib.
Retreating crude oil prices weighed down shares of Chesapeake Energy (NYSE: CHK).
Epizyme (Nasdaq: EPZM) reported updated data from an ongoing Phase 1 trial of tazemetostat.
Sprint (NYSE: S) will not participate in the next auction of airwaves in early 2016.
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of nearly 8 to 1 on the NYSE and by more than 4 to 1 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 tanked 49 points to 1,881. Bitcoin rose $4 to $236.