Wall Street stocks closed decidedly lower on Wednesday as investors adjusted their expectations for bold central bank interest rate cuts, while major tech names came under pressure.

The Dow Jones ended 1.0 percent down at 42,514, while the S&P 500 slid 0.9 percent to 5,797.

The Nasdaq plunged 1.6 percent to 18,276.

The losses came as US Treasury yields climbed.

"The economic reports are such that people are losing faith in the idea that we're going to get aggressive rate cuts," said Steve Sosnick of Interactive Brokers.

Another possible reason for the increase in yields is the US presidential election outcome next month, he said, noting that "neither candidate is talking about anything resembling fiscal discipline."

There could be "nervousness" that inflation might creep back in, he added.

Several major firms came under pressure as well, with tech giant Apple's shares down 2.2 percent and Nvidia shares losing 2.8 percent.

Fast food giant McDonald's slumped 5.1 percent amid a severe E coli outbreak linked to its Quarter Pounder hamburgers.

Meanwhile, Boeing closed 1.8 percent down after reporting a whopping US$6.2 billion quarterly loss as a labour strike bogged down its commercial plane division. (AFP)