Dec. 27 (UPI) — Wall Street limped to a downbeat end of the week on Friday as a sell-off in Big Tech stocks dragged the Dow Jones Industrial Index down by nearly 500 points at one point during the session.
The Dow peaked at 43,248 early in the day’s trading and then plunged 477 points to 42,761 shortly after 12 p.m. EST, losing more than 1% before paring back some of the session’s setbacks.
Likewise, the S&P 500 lost 1.7% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite was down by a thumping 2.3% as the so-called “Magnificent Seven” Big Tech stocks, focused on artificial intelligence and comprised of Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia and Tesla, all suffered sell-offs amid thin trading volumes.
Shares of Tesla shed more than 4% of their value, while AI darling Nvidia gave up close to 3% and online retailing giant Amazon fell by 2.5% as investors gave back some of gains racked up in recent weeks as the hugely successful year on Wall Street drew to a close.
Another notable loser Friday was Bitcoin, which fell by more than 1.5% after reaching a record high of $100,000 earlier in December on expectations that the incoming Trump administration and top advisers led by tech billionaire Elon Musk will move to deregulate the cryptocurrency market.
No clear reason was apparent for the negative movement, which squelched a hoped-for “Santa Claus rally” coming at the tail-end of a lucrative year in which the S&P 500 has appreciated by more than 20%.
“I think Santa has already come, but that’s me. Have you seen the performance this year?” Kenny Polcari of SlateStone Wealth told Bloomberg. “It’s Friday, next week is another holiday-shortened week, volumes will be light, moves will be exaggerated. Don’t make any major investing decisions this week.”