Stocks take a breather after Thursdays brutal tech-sell off drove Wall Street to its biggest drop in three months

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Summary List Placement

• Tech stocks take a breather on Friday after Thursday’s sell-off. 
• European stocks turned green as investors digested the fall in the tech sector from record-highs
• Nasdaq 100 records biggest one-day drop since mid-March after Big Tech crash
• Gold prices and the US dollar are stable despite broader sweep lower on global equity markets 
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Technology stocks took a small breather after Thursday’s brutal sell-off, which pushed US stocks to their biggest one-day loss in losses in three months. 

The STOXX Europe 600 technology index – which comprises the likes of German software firm SAP, Dutch semi-conductor supplier ASML – and was up 0.2% at 581.23. 

Neil Wilson, chief market analyst at Markets.com, said: “European equities were dragged lower by the tech-induced sell-off on Wall Street yesterday but recovered in early trade on Friday morning. With sentiment rolling over in the big US names, any rally may prove to be a selling opportunity.”

He added: “We’d been worried by spiking VIX futures whilst the market was making all-time highs and so it proved to be a red flag. The question longer term for this market is whether we should be confident earnings will recover.”

Apple and Tesla both fell 3% and 5.3%, respectively in pre-market trade as of 10:40 am. ET. US futures on the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 are pointing to a modestly lower open later, down 0.3%. 

On Thursday, US stocks fell the most in three months as investors sold high-flying tech stocks causing the Nasdaq-100 to experience its sharpest decline since March, with a drop of 5.2%. 

The Dow Jones Industrial Average suffered its worst single-day loss since late June, while the S&P 500 saw its biggest drop since early that month.

The FAANG stocks- Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, and Google parent Alphabet – tanked after rallying through the start of the month and enjoying historically expensive valuations. Luxury electric vehicle maker Tesla closed 9% lower on Thursday. 

The VIX index – Wall Street’s favorite fear indicator – is up 31% in the last week alone, hitting its highest since June, while the VXN,the equivalent volatility index for the Nasdaq 100, is at its highest since mid-April. 

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Deutsche Bank said in a note: “Interestingly, the jump in volatility was across the curve and the election volatility premium remains intact even after the large spike yesterday.”

Most European stocks were up in morning trade, with the Stoxx 50 index of blue-chip euro zone shares, up around 0.1% on the day.

Here’s the market roundup as of  10.53 a.m. in London (5:53 am ET):

• European equities rose, with Germany’s DAX up 0.2%, Britain’s FTSE 100 up 0.5%, and the Euro Stoxx 50 up 0.4%
• Asian indexes fell with China’s Shanghai Composite down 0.9%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 1.3%, and Japan’s Nikkei fell 1.1%.
• Futures underlying the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 rose 0.7% and 0.5%, respectively, while the US Tech 100 fell 0.3%.
• Oil prices rose, with West Texas Intermediate up 0.9% at $41.73, and Brent crude up 0.7% at $44.40
• The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield rose by around 1 basis point to 0.65%.
• Gold rose 0.4% to $1,946 per ounce.  

Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst at OANDA, said Thursday’s market drop seemed to be largely confined to the equity market, noting that neither the US dollar nor gold prices showed much reaction.

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“What is particularly interesting is not what did happen, but what didn’t happen. The US Dollar finished the day almost unchanged with the dollar index up only 0.14%. No signs of massive safe-haven flow there. Gold fell only 0.60% when in stock selloffs of Christmas past, gold would have been cremated as cash was raised to cover equity margin calls,” Halley said.