Technology stocks sold off again on Thursday. This time though it wasn’t clear what investors might be rotating into, except perhaps cash. The Nasdaq fell 0.7% as most mega-cap tech names finished in the red, with the notable exceptions of Nvidia and Meta Platforms, which rose 2.8% and 3.1% respectively. The chip sector more broadly staged a minor bounceback after Wednesday’s rout as the PHLX Semiconductor Index ended the day up 0.5%. Yet it remains down 8% from its peak earlier this month, and as Heard’s Dan Gallagher writes, the issues raised Wednesday, including U.S.-China tensions and the potential lack of security guarantees for industry hub Taiwan, won’t be going away anytime soon. But other sections of the market were down as well, including those that have recently benefited from migration of investor interest out of tech. The small-cap Russell 2000 index fell 1.6%, and the Nasdaq Regional Banking Index slid 1.5%. Big banks did no better, with Dow components Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan both falling 3.2%. Those looking for islands of positivity could find them in private equity. Blackstone rose 1.2% after saying it was committing more cash to deals, including in beaten-down real estate, and struck a bullish tone on dealmaking prospects more broadly. Rivals Carlyle, KKR and TPG were all up by around 1% to 2%. Overall, the Dow Jones Industrial Index shed 533 points, or 1.3%, while the S&P 500 ended down 0.8%. The biggest decliner in the S&P 500 was Domino’s Pizza, which sank 13.6% after saying it would slow the pace of store openings worldwide.
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