Leading tech stocks soured Thursday, along with much of the rest of the market
The latest shift erased some of Wednesday’s historic gains, which came as President Donald Trump abruptly announced a 90-day pause on tariff hikes for most countries. After the president’s announcement, Apple stock recorded its best performance in roughly 27 years.
However, the pause left out China — which is home to much of Big Tech’s meticulously designed supply chain, including Apple’s. By Thursday, markets seemed reluctant to trust a temporary policy pivot that arrived without warning — even as fresh inflation data offered some welcome relief. Thus, another bad day unfolded for investors.
Apple closed the day down 4.2%, while Amazon dropped about 5.2%, Nvidia fell about 5.9%, Meta $META (META) plunged 6.7%, Microsoft $MSFT (MSFT) fell 2.3%, and Tesla $TSLA (TSLA) gave up 7.3%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq $NDAQ ended Thursday down 4.3%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 2.5% and the S&P 500 fell about 3.5%.
For Tesla, the plunge came as analysts slashed their price targets for the EV stock — over Trump’s impending tariffs on auto parts and weakening demand for Tesla EVs in Europe and China. Meanwhile, Amazon cautioned that tariffs will drive up prices, Apple fell as the Trump administration clarified the latest tariffs on China (145%), and Meta declined as the company attempted to downplay a tell-all book by former Facebook public-policy executive Sarah Wynn-Williams.
Other tech losers included Advanced Micro Devices (AMD $AMD), which tanked about 8.4%, Intel $INTC (INTC), which took a roughly 7.7% dive, and Palantir $PLTR (PLTR), which fell 3.7%. Hardly any tech-adjacent stock dodged the carnage, but some of the rare exceptions included U.S.-focused telecom stocks, as well as video game maker Electronic Arts $EA (EA).
—Catherine Baab contributed to this article.
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