Stocks fell on Wednesday after a closely watch interest rate fell to its lowest level in more than a year as worries over a possible economic slowdown lingered.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the day down 32.14 points at 25,625.59 and fell as much as 232.46 points. The declined 0.5 percent to 2,805.37. The Nasdaq Composite closed 0.6 percent lower at 7,643.38 as a 0.9 percent gain in Apple was overshadowed by losses in Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Alphabet.

Health care, utilities and energy were the worst-performing sectors, falling more than half a percent each. Abiomed and Advanced Micro Devices were among the biggest laggards in the S&P 500, sliding more than 3 percent each. Hard disk maker Western Digital also fell 3.6 percent.

The benchmark 10-year rate traded at 2.386 percent and hit its lowest level since Dec. 15, 2017. Investors are keeping an eye on rates after the 10-year fell below the 3-month rate last week for the first time since 2007. It is a development that investors call an inverted yield curve and is seen as an early indicator of a recession.

The U.S. Treasury yield curve has inverted before each recession in the past 50 years and has only offered a false signal just once in that time, according to data from Reuters.

"All eyes are going to be on the Treasury market," said Michael Reynolds, investment strategy officer at Glenmede. "We are seeing a rising probability of recession in recognition of these rising risks, but we're not blowing off the top just yet."