[BRIEFING.COM] The Dow and S&P were at new highs until 14:00ET when the market steeply sold off in a profit-taking move. The tech sector spear-headed the retreat, which caused the Nasdaq to finish the day 2.2% lower than its intraday high.

Reportedly, the sell-off was prompted by inflation warnings made by Axel Weber, a European Central Bank Council (ECB) member. Weber stated that although the ECB has temporarily paused its rate hikes, in his opinion the ECB may need to raise rates to a “restrictive” level due to European inflation risks.

Market participants used Weber’s comments as a reason to take profits, which shouldn’t be a complete surprise. After all, the indices have made a remarkable, and unsustainable, run off their lows since August 16. To this point, at their highs today, the Nasdaq, Russell 2000, S&P 500 and Dow, were up 17%, 16%, 15% and 13% from their August 16 lows.