Tech sales push Nasdaq to the steepest drop since June 2020

Cloud companies, Tech sales push e-retailers, and home tech names took a hit Thursday, erasing hundreds of billions of dollars in market value and pushing the Nasdaq Composite to its worst daily decline since June 2020. A day after the Federal Reserve increasred interest rates by half a point to curb rising inflation. Investors sold off a market share widely seen as an engine of growth on fears the economy would be down.

Tech sales push saw a massive sell-off, with Amazon down nearly 8 percent and Facebook owner Meta Platforms down about 7 percent. Among other big names. Apple is down almost 6%, Google’s parent alphabet is down about 5%, and Microsoft shares fell 4%. Overall, the Nasdaq is down 5%.

Investors took particular interest in e-commerce after Shopify, which has grown during the pandemic by helping physical retailers go digital. Reported disappointing earnings and revenue in the first quarter.

As a result, shares are down 15%. eBay and Etsy also recorded double-digit declines following their earnings reports.

The technology rotation begins in late 2021. As rising inflation and the threat of rising interest rates have drawn investors into areas of the economy deemed safer. Such as energy and financial services. An additional hit came with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February. Which pushed up energy prices and raised concerns about supply chain constraints. And weakening business conditions in many parts of the world.

The first quarter of the year was the worst period of the same three months in 2020 for the Nasdaq. As the first days of the pandemic led to an economic shutdown. The technology index fell 9.1% in the first quarter. In less than half the second quarter, the Nasdaq is already down 21%.

Cloud stocks, which have also been favorites during Covid as companies deploy services they can use remotely, also took a hard hit on Thursday. Bill payment software developer Bill.com found its shares down 13%, while shares in software project management firm Asana fell 11%.