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Nasdaq Tumbles on Fears of Trump Effect on Tech as Dow Jones Surges

The Nasdaq fell sharply in mid-morning trading Thursday, with Amazon, Facebook and other large tech stocks tumbling on worries about policy changes and protectionism under the administration of President-elect Donald Trump.

The Nasdaq opened in positive territory but fell as much as 2 percent, even as the blue-chip Dow index lingered in record territory.

Near 1610 GMT, the Nasdaq was down 1.4 percent to 5,178.03.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.3 percent at 18,643.99, while the broad-based S&P 500 slipped 0.4 percent to 2,153.69.

Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Wunderlich Securities, said Trump stance during the campaign created concerns about how new policies could affect the technology sector.

"The rhetoric around the large technology companies is neutral to negative," Hogan said. 

"If we ever get back to that rhetoric that's more protectionist, that doesn't help people that manufacture a bunch of their products overseas, or companies that are putting smaller companies out of business. 

"I wouldn't say 'exacting revenge,' but if you listened to what you heard on the campaign trail, you could certainly make a case that there's not a clear discernible tail wind for these large cap technology companies.

Hogan noted that many prominent Silicon Valley executives publicly backed Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in the presidential race. And Trump attacked Apple directly after it refused to cooperate with intelligence experts seeking help in accessing a mobile phone.

Trump also went after Amazon for its business practices, as well as Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos. Bezos owns the Washington Post, which sharply criticized Trump throughout the campaign.

Apple fell 3.3 percent, Amazon 4.3 percent, Google parent Alphabet 3.3 percent, Facebook 4.7 percent and Microsoft 3.3 percent.  

JPMorgan Chase jumped 3.5 percent and Pfizer rose 4.1 percent. Caterpillar, which is expected to prosper from ramped-up public works spending, rose 2.5 percent.

Nasdaq's move lower marked a reversal from the initial market reaction Wednesday when the three major indices rallied.

Source: Agence France Presse


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