Stocks pulled back sharply on Thursday, completely erasing a rally from the prior session in a stunning reversal that delivered investors one of the worst days since 2020. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 4.99% to finish at 12,317.69, its lowest closing level since November 2020. The moves come after a major rally for stocks on Wednesday, when the The Nasdaq Composite jumped 3.19%. Those gains had all been erased before noon in New York on Thursday.
“If you go up 3% and then you give up half a percent the next day, that’s pretty normal stuff. ... But having the kind of day we had yesterday and then seeing it 100% reversed within half a day is just truly extraordinary,” arge tech stocks were under pressure, with Facebook-parent Meta Platforms and Amazon falling nearly 6.8% and 7.6%, respectively. Microsoft dropped about 4.4%. Salesforce tumbled 7.1%. Apple sank close to 5.6%.
E-commerce stocks were a key source of weakness on Thursday following some disappointing quarterly reports.
Etsy and eBay dropped 16.8% and 11.7%, respectively, after issuing weaker-than-expected revenue guidance. Shopify fell nearly 15% after missing estimates on the top and bottom lines.
The declines dragged Nasdaq to its worst day in nearly two years.