US stocks fell sharply today (Monday, March 24) as the
NASDAQ has had its biggest daily percentage drop since February, with
technology and biotech companies (recent best performers) leading the fall.
This has come as a result with the recent crisis in Ukraine
and fear that the conflict may escalate. Investors are nervous because there is
a potential for an economic fall out to the rest of the global economy.
Netflix Inc. has been the S&P 500’s biggest loser
falling 8.9% followed by Facebook Inc. and TripAdvisor Inc. Again all three of
these companies had performed well in 2013.
Markit – a financial data firm – has said even with manufacturing
activity slowing in March the rate of growth and rate of hiring has remained
strong.
2 comments:
Tech stocks can be pretty volatile, but I'm not sure that their demise has anything to do with the political situation in Ukraine, especially because Netflix doesn't even serve Ukraine. Then again, I could be surprised.
There is a widespread agreement that the situation with Russia in Ukraine has caused investors to become very wary with investments in technology, biotech, and energy companies with resources in Russia. 2013, was an extremely good year for investors as the S&P 500 saw a 30% growth, so we must temper our expectations for the market in 2014 and not overreact if the index does not see that type of growth. The past five years we have been in a bull market and it is expected with the Fed's stance to eventually raise interest rates, it will transform into a bear market and the situation in Russia would only serve to facilitate that change.
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