New York, Nov 13 (IANS): US stocks traded sharply lower on Monday, as a steep fall in Apple shares dragged technology shares and rippled through the broader market.

At midday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 407.75 points, or 1.57 per cent, to 25,581.55. The S&P 500 was down 38.05 points, or 1.37 per cent, to 2,742.96, Xinhua news agency reported.

The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 165.59 points, or 2.24 per cent, to 7,241.32.

Apple sank 4.4 per cent after Lumentum Holdings, which makes technology for the iPhone's face-recognition function, said that one of its largest customers had asked the company to "materially reduce shipments" for its products.

Amazon and Alphabet declined 3.35 per cent and 1.69 per cent, respectively. Shares of US chipmaker NVIDIA retreated 6.90 per cent.

The technology sector was down more than 2.8 per cent, leading the laggards in the 11 primary S&P 500 sectors.

Market sentiment was dented by Apple's decline as well as losses in Europe, Larry Benedict, CEO & founder of The Opportunistic Trader, a US market research firm, told Xinhua.