Company: Repsol YPF

Stocks accelerated their losses in the final minutes of trading to close near lows Wednesday, pressured by a handful of lackluster tech earnings and amid renewed concerns over the euro zone.

Argentina's move to nationalize local oil company YPF, controlled by Spain's Repsol, has scuppered years of planning by China's Sinopec Group to buy the South American company, sources said. 

An incensed Spain threatened swift economic retaliation against Argentina on Tuesday after it seized control of YPF, the South American nation's biggest oil company, in a move which pushed down shares in Spanish energy giant Repsol, the major shareholder.