The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 1.58% while the S&P 500 lost 1.12%. The Dow Jones shed 333 points to end the day.

The main indexes sold off at the open and stayed lower through the close, putting the Santa Claus rally at risk.

Some of the biggest winners were mega-cap tech stocks, with Tesla up by 6% while Broadcom, Netflix, and Amazon each gained about 2%.

Markets closed early and volume was thin, but all three main equity benchmarks closed higher on Tuesday to mark the official start of the Santa Claus Rally. Indeed, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite and the broad-based S&P 500 had their best Christmas Eve showings since 2000 and 2011,