US tech sell off continues to cause carnage to global markets as Apple shares slide
A continuing US tech sell off has sparked carnage across global stock markets this afternoon.
Apple shares continued to slide falling more than four per cent to six-month lows before recovering slightly and Microsoft shares also fell 2.4 per cent.
The Dow Jones lost 500 points on opening before rebounding to sit 1.6 per cent down for the day and the S&P 500 was also trading one per cent down, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq tumbled 1.3 per cent
The FTSE 100 also dropped 0.5 per cent towards the lows of October's global equity markets sell off.
“The Dow Jones was a bloody mess after the bell rang on Wall Street,” Connor Campbell analyst at Spreadex said.
Campbell added that the tech sector woes quickly spread to Europe.
He said: “Investors are concerned that sooner rather than later the sector is going to be fully embroiled in the US-China trade battle, exacerbating the softness caused by reports of a slowdown in iPhone demand.
“Obviously this caused the already moody European indices to have a fit.”
The pan-European Stoxx 600 was down 1.2 per cent, the German Dax down 1.4 per cent and the French CAC was also down one per cent for the day.
The slide began in the US yesterday following news that Apple may have to cut production across all three of its latest iPhone models, as lower-than-expected demand for its higher-price products takes its toll.
The other members of the so-called FAANG group – Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Google – also fell, with Facebook, Amazon and Netflix all charting losses of more than five per cent by the end of trading.
But Facebook rebounded today while Netflix and Apple continued to fall.
“Yet another day of hard selling has taken hold throughout Europe and the US, with all major US stock indices now trading in the red for year,” Joshua Mahony, analyst at IG said.
“Tech has been a major focus for short sellers of late, with high valuations ensuring that they become a target given their apparently bloated share-prices.”