You know things are bad when you're nostalgic for Friday the 13th.
In the last week tech stocks have taken a severe pounding as if some the biggest names in the sector crossed paths with a platoon of black cats.
The market has been by such factors as inflation, rising interest rates, and Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
"It would seem that many investors are trying to call the bottom of the falling knife that is the plunging stock market at the moment, the high tech NASDAQ index is down by around 25% for the year to date and we are not even six months into 2022," said David Jones, chief market strategist with the investment trading platform, Capital.com.
Tech stocks also make a large part of the S&P 500, with Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL), Amazon (AMZN), Apple (AAPL), Facebook parent Meta Platforms (FB) and Microsoft (MSFT) making up about 20% of the index.
Alphabet was down 6.1% from its week-ago closing price of $2,321.01, and Microsoft was off 3.1% from its May 13 closing price of $260.51.
Amazon was off about 4.8% from the prior week and Citi analyst Ronald Josey removed the internet giant from the firm's Focus List citing macro uncertainty and a lack of near-term catalysts.
Shortage of Semiconductor Parts
However, with the shares down 26% since the April 28 earnings report, where Amazon posted a surprise first-quarter loss, much of the risk is priced in.
That is particularly true for longer-term investors, said the analyst, who has a buy rating on the shares with a $4,100 price target.
Computer giant Apple is down nearly 6.4% from its May 13 close of $147.11 and Meta Platforms is down 2.3% since May 13. Nvidia (NVDA) was down 5.7% in the same time frame.
Semiconductor equipment maker Applied Materials (AMAT) posted softer-than-expected second quarter earnings.
CEO Gary Dickerson said global shortage in semiconductor parts has gummed-up chipmaking supply chains and hampered the company's ability to meet customer demand. The company has been off about 4.8% since May 13.
Then we have, Tesla (TSLA), which was off 13.7% from its May 13 closing price of 769.59.
The stock ended 6.4% lowered May 20, as CEO Elon Musk contended with a series of lurid headlines, including one where he allegedly sexually harassed a flight attendant on a private jet.
In addition, Musk has the Twitter (TWTR) acquisition bid on his hands.
"The tech bust will drag on for years." one person said on Twitter.
"You'll get tons of rallies along the way. I've minimized the amount of time I spend on it. I know the bottom will occur in tech stocks when there is no interest left. Nowhere near close to that point."
