Apple downgrade sparks tech sell-off, sending Alphabet and Microsoft to one-year lows

Shares of ample exertion companies suffered dense losses connected Thursday, dragging down galore different U.S. stocks on with them, aft analysts astatine Bank of America lowered Apple's banal rating.

Tech stocks person been pushed down each twelvemonth arsenic investors person rotated retired of maturation and flocked to much antiaircraft assets to woody with higher involvement rates and to get up of a imaginable recession.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite roseate connected Tuesday and Wednesday, but the buying came aft the worst 2 weeks since the onset of the Covid pandemic. Now the downward inclination is back, with the Nasdaq disconnected 2.8% connected Thursday — it's steepest one-day setback since bully Sept. 13. The broader S&P 500 fell 2.1%.

Apple shares declined astir 5% arsenic Bank of America analysts led by Wamsi Mohan changed their standing to neutral from buy, straying from the bargain presumption held by a bulk of analysts polled by FactSet.

The analysts pointed to respective risks, including a weaker buying cycle associated with the iPhone 14 that Apple released this month. One time earlier, a report said Apple had scrapped its program to boost iPhone accumulation by 6 cardinal units successful the 2nd fractional of the year.

Apple banal is present worthy 20% little than it was astatine the extremity of 2021, portion the Nasdaq is down 31% implicit the aforesaid period.

Of the exertion companies with the largest marketplace valuations, Microsoft took the lightest blow. It ended Thursday's trading league down astir 1.5%, which was inactive a 52-week low. Google genitor Alphabet besides reached a 52-week low, dropping 2.6%. Shares of Facebook genitor Meta Platforms slid 3.7%, Amazon declined 2.7% and Tesla was disconnected 6.8%.

Smaller growth-oriented tech companies besides suffered, with Coinbase down astir 8% aft Wells Fargo initiated coverage with an underweight rating. Elsewhere, Shopify fell 8.45%, Rivian declined 7.9% and Roblox was disconnected 7%.

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