Shares of tech giants like Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft, and Facebook-parent Meta all plunged on Thursday amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Technology analyst Daniel Ives of Wedbush Securities referred to the stock plunge as a “scary tech selloff” in an analyst note published on Thursday. Ives wrote that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine would “send shock waves across the global markets this morning with tech names expected to see significant pain when the U.S. market opens.”
Indeed, Ives’s predictions came to fruition.
When the markets opened on Thursday, Apple shares were down 4% while Amazon’s shares dropped by 1.2%, Alphabet by 1%, Microsoft by 1.5%, and Meta by 2%.
The tech giants saw some recovery by the afternoon, with Apple shares down only 1.51%, while shares in Amazon, Alphabet, and Meta were relatively flat. Microsoft experienced the biggest recovery with the cloud technology company’s shares up 1.4% during midday trading.
Experts say that investors should prepare for wild tech stock fluctuations as the Russia-Ukraine war goes on.
“The risk-off environment that has been in effect so far in 2022 will now be significantly exacerbated by this geopolitical shock event with a valuation compression that is hard for already battered tech investors to absorb,” Ives wrote.
Besides tech, the cryptocurrency market also sank on Thursday because of the Russian invasion. Bitcoin dropped 8%, while Ether plunged 7% shortly after news emerged of the Russia-Ukraine war.
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