Thursday’s trading session ended with a severe downturn for tech equities, which saw their heaviest single-day percentage loss in months. The Nasdaq 100 index declined 4.2% by the close of trading, a drop that wiped out more than $1.7 trillion in total market capitalization and marked the index’s most significant daily slide since June 5.
The volatility began after-hours Wednesday following weak results from Intel, which provided fourth-quarter revenue guidance of $15B to $16B that missed estimates, and Amazon, which saw its shares fall after missing quarterly advertising revenue targets by $1.2B. The selloff spread to Asian markets earlier in the week, causing the South Korean Kospi index to fall 5.5% and lose approximately $176B, an event that triggered a five minute halt in program trading.
