S&P 500 plunge into red for year

US stocks fell sharply on Wednesday.

The S&P 500 plunged 3.1 percent, its sixth consecutive decline and leaving it in negative territory for 2018. The Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 2.4 percent and the Nasdaq Composite sank 4.4 percent.

Elsewhere, the STOXX Europe 600 fell 0.2 percent but the Nikkei 225 rose 0.6 percent.

According to Craig Johnson, chief market technician at Piper Jaffray, the US stock market could see more weakness ahead.

“I think it's going to be another 5 to 10 percent lower from here and it's probably going to take about 14 to 16 weeks to work out itself out,“ said Johnson.

“The market selloff has taken on a life of its own and selling is begetting more selling, but so far we haven’t seen a capitulation moment, so I’m taking a more cautious approach,” said Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer at Independent Advisor Alliance.

“I think profit growth has topped out and will definitively slow going forward, contributing to the next recession, likely early in the next decade,” Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics.

However, some analysts remain optimistic.

“Good news in my mind is valuations have become much more attractive here with the S&P 500 trading at about 15 times next year’s estimates,” said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B. Riley FBR Inc.