Trump’s Tariff Threats Trigger $770B Tech Sector Tumble
Major technology stocks faced a brutal blow on Friday, as the market value of megacap companies collectively plummeted by $770 billion. This dramatic loss came in the wake of President Trump’s threat to impose 100% tariffs on Chinese goods starting November 1st. The fallout was immediate and severe, with the Nasdaq plunging 3.6% and the S&P 500 falling 2.7%. This marked the worst day for both indexes since April.
Several tech giants bore the brunt of these losses. Nvidia saw a near 5% drop, while Amazon and Tesla both fell around 5%. Microsoft lost a staggering $85 billion in market cap, and Amazon’s $121 billion loss eradicated all its projected gains for 2025. The situation worsened when Trump later announced that the U.S. would apply export controls “on any and all critical software,” adding further pressure to tech stocks in after-hours trading.
The sell-off disrupted a sustained rally in tech stocks that had been built on AI infrastructure spending. Despite Nvidia recently becoming the first company to reach a $4.5 trillion market cap in late September, these tariff threats underscore the sector’s vulnerability to sudden shifts in trade policy.
Source: CNBC