Dow Falls 170 Points, Ending 3-Day Winning Streak

The Dow Jones closed with losses for the first time in four sessions on Wednesday amid concerns about the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Dow ended the day down 170.37 points, or 0.65 percent, while the S&P 500 dropped 0.36 percent and the Nasdaq Composite was up 0.15 percent.

Stocks that would benefit most from the lifting of restrictions put in place to prevent the spread of the coronavirus such as airlines, cruise lines and retail struggled on Wednesday.

United Airlines stock dropped 2.39 percent, Delta fell 1.92 percent and American Airlines declined 0.29 percent, while Norwegian Cruise Line stock dipped 8.40 percent, Royal Caribbean slid 7.09 percent and Carnival lost 6.51 percent.

Additionally, Nordstrom stock fell 5.54 percent and Gap dropped 5.49 percent.

Tech stocks, however, outperformed the rest of the market allowing the tech-heavy Nasdaq to end the day with gains.

Netflix stock rose 2.67 percent, Amazon gained 0.98 percent and Google's parent company, Alphabet, increased 0.42 percent.

Stocks were also affected by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's second day of testimony before Congress, during which he said the central bank will adopt direct corporate-bond purchases, rather than corporate bond ETFs.

Wednesday's losses came after the markets started the week with gains with the Dow closing up 526 points on Tuesday.