Rout Deepens on Wall Street as Tech, Crypto Slide: Markets Wrap
(Bloomberg) — Another burst of heavy selling pummeled software stocks and crypto, with weak jobs data exacerbating an equity rout spurred by concern over the impact of artificial intelligence on valuations. Bitcoin took one of its biggest tumbles yet. In late hours, Amazon.com Inc. plunged after its results.
Stocks extended a slide from near-record levels, with the S&P 500 falling 1.2%. The Nasdaq 100 saw its worst three-day rout since April’s meltdown. The most-popular digital token tumbled to around $63,000 in a selloff that cut its value by nearly half since October. Treasuries climbed, sending two-year yields to the lowest level this year. Silver plummeted about 20%.
A recent drop in all things related to AI coincided with fears over whether big investments in the technology will pay off. Amazon said it plans to spend $200 billion this year on data centers, chips and other equipment. Microsoft Corp. and Alphabet Inc., which reported results earlier, also slumped on spending plans.
The latest selling episode started to put a visible dent in equity benchmarks whose ascent had pushed valuations to some of the highest levels since the 2000 dot-com peak. The Nasdaq 100 has seen more than $1 trillion wiped out since Federal Reserve policymakers signaled last week reluctance to lower rates again anytime soon.
While losses in previous sessions were confined mostly to growth sectors, Thursday saw a broadening of selling pressure, with nine of 11 major industry groups in the S&P 500 retreating. Its equally weighted version — one that strips out market value biases — dropped from an all-time high.
“It’s been a tough week for investors who were heavily exposed to the parts of the market that led the upside,” said Mona Mahajan at Edward Jones. “Technology and AI come to mind, but more recently we’ve also seen gold and precious metals sell off, as well as Bitcoin and the broader crypto space.”
Bets on economic resilience have recently fueled gains in companies that tend to benefit from improving growth prospects, but the latest data underscored the fragility of the labor market.
US job openings unexpectedly fell in December to the lowest since 2020 and layoffs edged up. Companies announced the largest number of job cuts for any January since the depths of the Great Recession in 2009 while jobless claims rose more than forecast last week.
“The latest labor figures reiterate that the US jobs market is not firing on all cylinders, a risk the Fed and investors will have to take seriously should further deterioration occur,” said Bret Kenwell at eToro. “Volatility could persist, particularly if near-term uncertainty increases.”
A measure of stock volatility – the VIX – jumped to around 22. The IShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF sank 5%. Anthropic is releasing a new version of its most powerful AI model designed to carry out financial research, days after a push into legal services upended legacy software makers. A gauge of chipmakers was flat.
Bitcoin tumbled 13%. The yield on 10-year Treasuries slid nine basis points to 4.18%. The dollar added 0.3%. The pound slipped as the Bank of England’s closer-than-expected rate decision revived hopes of a cut next month. Oil fell as Iran confirmed US negotiations set for Friday.
“Another day, another set of declines in popular financial assets,” said Steve Sosnick at Interactive Brokers. “What is different this time is that today is less about rotation than outright selling. The jobs data gave economic bulls a bit of pause.”
Yet most questions Sosnick continues to receive involve the selloff in software — and the outlook for the broad tech space.
“The consensus has flipped to software companies being AI victims – not beneficiaries,” he said. “Investors were willing to pay premium multiples for software companies that could reap efficiencies from utilizing AI in their coding and final products. That view abruptly reversed, with software companies now perceived as victims of AI’s disruption.”
And the second issue here, he noted, is that “crowded trades are difficult to exit.”
Recent selling has been concentrated around three major themes: crypto/payments, software that could be undercut by AI, and AI buildout plays specifically, according to Bespoke Investment Group strategists.
“Whenever a wave of extreme selling hits the market, investors with a value or contrarian bent will start wading through the carnage to look for longs,” they said. “These proverbial babies who have been thrown out with the bathwater can prove great trades long-term, even if investors stepping up to buy huge waves of red have to stomach volatility in the meantime.”
Of course, selloffs happen for a reason, so sometimes those longs are stopped out long before any rebound, the Bespoke strategists warned.
“We view the weakness as part of a valuation reset across growth sectors, one that, given tech’s substantial index weight, is dragging on broader market performance,” said Angelo Kourkafas at Edward Jones.
Historical episodes of major disruption risk suggest that share price stabilization will require stability in the earnings outlook, according to Ben Snider at Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
“In this case, the uncertainty around the eventual impact of AI means near-term earnings results will be important signals of business resilience, but in many cases insufficient to disprove the long-term downside risk,” he said.
There’s no doubt that AI will be making major inroads, but at the moment, the unpredictability of how fast it will actually ramp into profits is clearly bringing near-term volatility, according to Louis Navellier at Navellier & Associates.
With Thursday’s rout, the S&P 500 briefly breached its average price of the past 100 days, a line that has acted as a support level since May, according to market technicians.
“The S&P 500 bounced strongly off that line in November,” said Matt Maley at Miller Tabak. “So if a meaningful drop below that line happens this time, that would raise some warning flags.”
Meantime, Bitcoin tumbled as the unwinding of leveraged bets and broader market turbulence deepened a selloff that has wiped out all of the gains since President Donald Trump’s election set off a speculative rush into cryptocurrencies.
The market started cracking this month as rising geopolitical tensions sent tremors across global financial markets and curbed risk taking. That sparked Bitcoin’s precipitous decline from mid-January and set off a self-reinforcing cycle of selling as funds liquidated assets to meet redemptions and unwind leveraged bets.
“Volatility echoed in areas that have been the beneficiary of retail investor attention and leverage, including Bitcoin,” said Mark Hackett at Nationwide.
John Roque at 22V Research frames it in cycles. Bitcoin has lived through five substantial bear markets since 2011, with an average drawdown of 80%. The smallest of those came in at 72%. If this cycle hits that threshold, the token would fall to about $35,200. For now, he’s maintaining a target of $60,000 — until and unless that point is also breached.
Bitcoin’s plunge is intensifying the crisis rocking the digital-asset complex — and few companies are more exposed than Michael Saylor’s Strategy Inc.
In an earnings announcement Thursday, the Bitcoin-hoarding company confirmed a net loss of $12.4 billion for the fourth quarter, driven by the mark-to-market decline in its vast holdings. That pain deepened this week, as fresh market turmoil pushed the firm’s Bitcoin stash below its cumulative cost basis for the first time since 2023.
Corporate Highlights:
Apple Inc. Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook told employees that he’s “deeply distraught” with the current US approach to immigration and will continue pressing the issue with lawmakers. Qualcomm Inc., the largest maker of smartphone processors, gave a lackluster revenue forecast for the current period, stoking concern that component shortages will hurt consumer demand by driving prices up. Arm Holdings Plc rose after Wall Street analysts praised the chip designer’s latest quarterly report, which initially drew a tepid response from investors. Peloton Interactive Inc. provided a weaker-than-expected revenue forecast for the fiscal third quarter, disappointing investors who hoped a recent hardware revamp would spur a long-promised turnaround. Reddit Inc. projected current-quarter sales that surpassed Wall Street’s expectations, a reflection on the company’s growing advertising business just two years in as a publicly traded company. Roblox Corp. reported fourth-quarter users and bookings that beat analysts’ expectations thanks to a slate of hit games. Snap Inc. sank after the company reported a decline in daily users, partly driven by Australia’s ban on social media for children. Saudi Arabia’s flagship carrier is in early talks with Boeing Co. and Airbus SE for what could be its largest plane purchase ever as the kingdom commits billions of dollars toward becoming a travel and tourism hub. Hims & Hers Health Inc. launched a cheaper copycat version of Novo Nordisk A/S’s Wegovy pill. The move comes during a brutal week for the Danish drugmaker, which has warned investors that sales could decline as much as 13% this year. ConocoPhillips is forecasting a cut to its crude production this year as oil prices slump and prime drilling sites in US shale fields grow scarce. Ralph Lauren Corp.’s quarterly report raised concerns that strategic investments and a sales miss in Europe could slow the high-end apparel company’s momentum. Estée Lauder Cos.’s outlook boost failed to reassure investors about the pace of the cosmetics conglomerate’s turnaround. Bristol Myers Squibb Co. forecast 2026 sales and profit above Wall Street’s expectations, a sign that the company’s newer medicines are helping stem the losses from its older drugs that are losing patent protection. Cigna Group set the floor for its 2026 earnings outlook shy of Wall Street expectations as the health-care conglomerate revamps its drug benefit plans, a move the company has warned will drag on profits. Hershey Co. offered a better-than-expected 2026 outlook, saying higher prices and new products would bolster the candymaker’s performance. The Washington Post, owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, cut about one-third of its staff in an effort to pare losses and restore the struggling newspaper to profitability. Bank of America Corp. — aiming to double the profit it makes from consumers — is revamping its approach to credit cards as the lender embarks on a plan to meet one of its most audacious financial targets set last year. The crypto exchange run by billionaires Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss is slashing as much as 25% of its workforce and winding down operations in the UK, European Union and Australia, marking a major pullback for two of the industry’s most high-profile figures amid a rout in the sector. Rio Tinto Group is walking away from talks to acquire Glencore Plc after the two sides failed to agree on valuation, scuttling a potential mega merger that would have created the world’s largest mining company. Barrick Mining Corp. plans to spin off its top North American gold assets in an initial public offering later this year as part of a strategic reset by the Canadian metals producer. BP Plc is looking for a partner to help ramp up production and share some costs at one of the Middle East’s oldest oil fields, according to people with knowledge of the situation. Shell Plc profits slumped in the fourth quarter, undershooting expectations as lower crude prices and a struggling chemicals business dented earnings. BNP Paribas SA beat expectations and raised some targets, boosting Chief Executive Officer Jean-Laurent Bonnafe and his plan to prop up a lender that has long lagged peers. HSBC Holdings Plc is preparing to hand some bankers little or zero bonuses as the 160-year-old British lender seeks to emulate its Wall Street rivals with a more hard-edged, “eat-what-you-kill” stance. A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S plans to cut jobs and focus on cost discipline this year as the container giant seeks to insulate its earnings against deteriorating freight rates with Red Sea routes reopening. A number of European nations announced recalls of Danone SA infant formula due to possible contamination with the toxin cereulide. Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
The S&P 500 fell 1.2% as of 4 p.m. New York time The Nasdaq 100 fell 1.4% The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.2% The MSCI World Index fell 1.2% Bloomberg Magnificent 7 Total Return Index fell 1.8% IShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF fell 5% Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Index was little changed The Russell 2000 Index fell 1.8% S&P 500 Equal Weighted Index fell 0.9% Currencies
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.3% The euro fell 0.2% to $1.1778 The British pound fell 0.9% to $1.3536 The Japanese yen fell 0.1% to 157.06 per dollar Cryptocurrencies
Bitcoin fell 13% to $63,083.01 Ether fell 13% to $1,846.86 Bonds
The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined nine basis points to 4.18% Germany’s 10-year yield declined two basis points to 2.84% Britain’s 10-year yield advanced one basis point to 4.56% Commodities
West Texas Intermediate crude fell 2.9% to $63.26 a barrel Spot gold fell 3% to $4,818.46 an ounce –With assistance from Chris Nagi.
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