Markets

Tech shares come roaring back in trading Friday, led by Netflix and Amazon

Key Points
  • Technology stocks moved sharply higher Friday.
  • Netflix and Amazon led, while chipmakers AMD and Nvidia were also sharply higher.
  • Tech stocks got clobbered earlier this week, amid a sell-off across stock markets.
What happened? What should you do?
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What happened? What should you do?

Technology stocks moved sharply higher Friday, after a two-day slaughter saw the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index fall briefly into correction territory, down 10 percent from its recent highs.

Technology Select SPDR Fund, which tracks the S&P 500 technology sector, rose 3 percent in trading. Tech stocks were led by Netflix and Amazon, up 5.8 percent and 4 percent, respectively, while chipmakers AMD and Nvidia both rose more than 4 percent. Microsoft, Apple, Alphabet and Twitter shares were rose 2 percent or more.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose more than 270 points in a rebound Friday.

Netflix and Microsoft were boosted by upgrades from Wall Street analysts who said the sell-off had gone far enough. Amazon was one of the stocks CNBC's Jim Cramer said he was adding as part of his broader view that a market turnaround was due on Friday.

Tech stocks got clobbered during a sell-off across stock markets this week, amid concerns over rising interest rates, escalating trade tensions and tighter monetary policy. The past two days saw Amazon, Netflix and Alphabet all in correction territory after taking big hits this week.

On Thursday, the Nasdaq became the first major U.S. stock market benchmark to dip into a correction, falling as low as 7,274 in intraday trading — a drop over 10 percent from the most recent 52-week trading high of 8,133.30. A correction on Wall Street is defined as down more than 10 percent from its high.

Amazon is one of the top names to buy in this environment, according to Cramer. Although shares of Amazon trade at $1,776 a share, Cramer said he doesn't know "when you buy Amazon other than when it's down big and people are really scared."

Why you shouldn't panic when stocks are getting slammed
VIDEO2:1102:11
Why you shouldn't panic when stocks are getting slammed

Citigroup upgraded shares of Netflix on Friday, saying the stock's recent tumble gives investors an opening to buy.

"We view the recent sell-off as an opportunity to own a high-quality, recurring revenue franchise with attractive upside potential," Citi analysts said.

Snap and Twitter were both upgraded by Pivotal Research on Friday. Snap has been getting crushed this year, hitting an all-time low of $6.46 a share on Oct. 11. Pivotal sees potential for Snap to go private and improve its revenue sources. Pivotal said it has "some faith that" Snap can "find ways to reverse recent usage trends and generally improve monetization."