The bull on Wall Street was bloodied and beaten Wednesday as the stock market had its biggest sell since February.

Investors fled the market as fears over the economic fallout from rising interest rates and the US trade dispute with China frightened them.

Technology stocks, which had led the market for most of 2018 and had become expensive, were the hardest hit. The Nasdaq composite, dominated by technology, fell by 4.1%.

"These developments tell us that the investment environment has become riskier," said Ed Yardeni, chief investment strategist at Yardeni Research.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell by nearly 832 points, or 3.2%, to 25,599. This performance marks the worst drop in a day of the world average since a fall of more than 1,000 points on February 8th. Growing concern over the impact of rising borrowing costs on corporate profits and consumer spending has prompted investors to sell shares.

"Fear is on the rise," said David Kotok, investment director at Cumberland Advisors in Sarasota, Florida. "Investors wake up."

Kotok even went so far as to predict that a full "correction" of the market, or a 10% drop, is going on. After falling more than 3% on Wednesday, the large US market, measured by the Standard & Poor's 500, now stands a gap of 4.9% from its record level of 20 September.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury Note – a US government bond that influences asset prices ranging from fixed rate mortgages to equities – hit a new high of 7.2% in seven years earlier on Wednesday.

Higher interest rates make stocks less attractive relative to other investments, including bonds, which offer higher and more competitive yields and lower risk.

In the recent slide that began late last week, the Dow has shed almost 1,200 points, or 4.6% since its last summit.

The major worry about stocks is that economic growth will slow if borrowing costs continue to climb, analysts say.

"Markets are eliminating future (economic) downturns" around the world, said Gary Kaltbaum, chairman of fund management company Katlbaum Asset Management.

While the US economy grew at a rate of 4.2% in the second quarter, the slowdown in economic growth around the world is getting more and more worried.

Citing the negative effects of US and Chinese tariffs and the slowdown in emerging market growth, the International Monetary Fund this week reduced its global growth forecast for this year and 2019 to 3.7%, against 3.9% previously .

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The S & P 500 stock index fell 3.3%, down for its fifth consecutive session and records its longest run of losses since November 2016.

Much of the pain was focused on tech stocks such as Netflix, Amazon and Google's parent company, Alphabet, which had led the market higher this year, but were now experiencing sharp declines.

The market downturn comes before the third quarter earnings season, which begins Friday with the results of J. P. Morgan Chase and other major banks.

Paul Hickey, co-founder of Bespoke Investment Group in New York, worries that some investors, reacting to the negative earnings comments of some companies, hold shares.

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