Big technology stocks like Tesla, Amazon and Microsoft just finished their worst quarter in years
- Tesla, which reached a trillion-dollar market capitalization in 2021, experienced its worst decline since its initial public offering in 2010 in the second quarter.
- Amazon stock tumbled nearly 35%.
Investors lowered the valuations of the world's largest technology companies in the second quarter as central bankers ratcheted up interest rates to ward off inflation.
Big technology names became less valuable in the first quarter, with Russia's invasion into Ukraine cutting into business and adding to supply complications that appeared in the pandemic, sending the broad S&P 500 index down about 5%. The situation worsened in the second quarter as the Federal Reserve swung into action with rate increases. While the S&P tumbled another 16%, the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite index declined 22%.
U.S. stocks fell Thursday to end the second quarter, prompting the S&P 500's weakest first half of the year since 1970.
Electric-vehicle maker Tesla endured its largest quarterly decline since its 2010 initial public offering as the stock sank almost 38%. In the quarter CEO Elon Musk made a bid to acquire social-media company Twitter for $44 billion.
Amazon stock dropped almost 35%, the most since the third quarter of 2001. The company's first-quarter earnings fell short of analysts' estimates in April as revenue growth slowed. In early June, Amazon said Dave Clark, CEO of the e-commerce company's worldwide consumer business, was resigning. In September he will start as CEO of supply chain software startup Flexport.
Shares of Google's umbrella company, Alphabet, ended the quarter down almost 22%, the worst results since the fourth quarter of 2008. Microsoft shares dropped about 17%, the sharpest decline since the second quarter of 2010.
Apple's stock fell almost 22% in the second quarter in the stock's worst performance since the fourth quarter of 2018, when Apple reported light guidance and the stock market overall endured a steep selloff.
Facebook parent Meta Platforms — whose ticker symbol changed to META from FB this month to match its new corporate identity reflecting a stronger emphasis on virtual worlds where people can transact and interact — saw its stock fall more than 27%. That was a better outcome than the first quarter, when the stock's value compressed by about 34%. In February the social-network operator said its count of daily active users (DAUs) on Facebook had decreased quarter-over-quarter for the first time.
Drugmakers Eli Lilly and Merck, cereal manufacturer Kellogg and discount retailer Dollar General all outperformed these six companies, posting gains of at least 10% in the quarter.
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