Wall Street Down As Big Tech Shares Slump

Big Tech stocks were burned by the downside of high expectations, triggering a sharp slide for Wall Street on Wednesday.

Alphabet was one of the heaviest weights on the market, falling 7.5% despite reporting stronger profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. I Photo: Servizi Multimediali Flickr

The market’s losses worsened after the Federal Reserve indicated it likely won’t cut interest rates in March, as many traders had hoped, reported Stan Choe for the Associated Press (AP).

The S&P 500 dropped 1.6%, marking its worst day since September. It veered between more modest and sharper losses through a shaky afternoon as traders delayed bets on when the Fed would begin easing its main interest rate from its highest level since 2001.

The slide for Big Tech stocks dragged the Nasdaq Composite to a market-leading loss of 2.2%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which has less of an emphasis on tech, fell a more modest 0.8%, or 317 points.

Alphabet was one of the heaviest weights on the market, falling 7.5% despite reporting stronger profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected.

Underneath the surface, analysts pointed to some concerning trends in how much Google’s parent company is earning from advertising. Microsoft fell 2.7% even though it delivered stronger profit and revenue than expected.

One analyst, Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities, even called its quarterly report “a masterpiece that should be hung in the Louvre.”

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