Wall Street reels from sell-off in tech shares as Apple and Microsoft stumble

Wall Street fell sharply on Thursday, with the S&P 500 and the Dow industrials suffering their worst daily percentage drops in about six weeks, as a recent decline in technology shares deepened and outweighed strength in bank shares.

The technology sector, which has led the S&P 500’s 8-per cent gain for the year, dropped 1.8 per cent, and were the worst-performing major group. Declines in big tech stocks, including Apple and Microsoft, weighed the most on the benchmark S&P.

Financials and energy were the only sectors in positive territory as investors may have been rotating into groups that have lagged this year.

“US equities have remained extended, at or close to record territory for an extended period of time really without a tremendous amount of conviction in the market,” said Peter Kenny, senior market strategist at Global Markets Advisory Group, in New York.

“It’s really been treading water. Without a major stimulus to drive prices higher, equities have to reset and that’s what they’re doing today,” Kenny said.