Wall St. falls; biotech, technology push Nasdaq down

(Reuters) - U.S. stocks dropped on Wednesday as a slump in technology and biotech shares sent the Nasdaq to its biggest decline in almost a year, while the S&P 500 fell through key support levels.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> fell 291.34 points, or 1.62 percent, to 17,719.8, the S&P 500 <.SPX> lost 30.4 points, or 1.45 percent, to 2,061.1 and the Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> dropped 118.21 points, or 2.37 percent, to 4,876.52.

(Reporting By Sinead Carew; Editing by Nick Zieminski)