U.S. Stocks Down Sharply Again After Wednesday’s Rout

Specialists Jay Woods (right) and Thomas McArdle work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday. The market’s recent decline was set off by a sharp drop in bond prices and a corresponding increase in yields last week and early this week.

Richard Drew / AP

Updated at 4:35 p.m. ET

After the huge sell-off Wednesday, U.S. stocks fell sharply again Thursday. At one point, the Dow was down nearly 700 points. By late afternoon, it had regained some ground but closed down 546 points or a little more than 2 percent.

Over the past two days, the Dow has lost 1,378 points. The S&P 500 was down 2 percent for the day. The Nasdaq lost 1.25 percent.