TOPLINE

Big technology stocks sank Tuesday, a potentially worrisome omen as the darlings of 2023’s explosive gains lost hundreds of billions of dollars of market value.

KEY FACTS

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 1.6% in the opening trading session of the year, a far wider loss than the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s 0.1% gain and S&P 500’s 0.6% fall.

Tuesday was the Nasdaq’s worst day since October 25 and its lowest closing price since mid-December.

Driving much of the tech slump was a 4% drop by Apple’s stock, a dive precipitated by an analyst downgrade questioning why the $2.9 trillion (market capitalization) company is trading at such an expensive valuation considering its negative earnings and profit growth.

Other members of the “magnificent seven” tech stocks, which gained a collective $5.1 trillion in market cap last year, also flailed Tuesday.

Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia and Meta each fell 1% or more, while Tesla was the sole magnificent seven member left unscathed, as its shares were flat after the automaker reported more fourth-quarter electric vehicle deliveries than forecasted.

BIG NUMBER

About $238 billion. That’s how much market value the magnificent seven lost Tuesday.

KEY BACKGROUND

The Nasdaq rose more than 40% in 2023, erasing most of 2022’s historic losses and easily outperforming the Dow and S&P’s respective returns. Much of tech’s gains were due to investor optimism about the longer-term profitability for breakthroughs in generative artificial intelligence, rather than a corresponding uptick in earnings, leading to concerns about the health of the rally.

SURPRISING FACT

Microsoft is now just $130 billion behind Apple for the title of the world’s most valuable company, a mantle held by Apple since late 2021.