Nasdaq tumbles on fears of Trump effect on tech

The Nasdaq fell sharply in mid-morning trading today, with Amazon, Facebook and other large tech stocks tumbling on worries about policy changes and protectionism under the administration of President-elect Donald Trump.
The Nasdaq opened in positive territory but fell as much as 2 per cent, even as the blue-chip Dow index lingered in record territory.
Near 1610 GMT, the Nasdaq was down 1.4 per cent to 5,178.03.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.3 per cent at 18,643.99, while the broad-based S&P 500 slipped 0.4 per cent to 2,153.69.
Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Wunderlich Securities, said Trump stance during the campaign created concerns about how new policies could affect the technology sector.

"The rhetoric around the large technology companies is neutral to negative," Hogan said.

"If we ever get back to that rhetoric that's more protectionist, that doesn't help people that manufacture a bunch of their products overseas, or companies that are putting smaller companies out of business.
"I wouldn't say 'exacting revenge,' but if you listened to what you heard on the campaign trail, you could certainly make a case that there's not a clear discernible tail wind for these large cap technology companies.
Hogan noted that many prominent Silicon Valley executives publicly backed Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in the presidential race. And Trump attacked Apple directly after it refused to cooperate with intelligence experts seeking help in accessing a mobile phone.

Trump also went after Amazon for its business practics, as well as Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos. Bezos owns the Washington Post, which sharply criticized Trump throughout the campaign.
Apple fell 3.3 per cent, Amazon 4.3 per cent, Google parent Alphabet 3.3 per cent, Facebook 4.7 per cent and Microsoft 3.3 per cent.
JPMorgan Chase jumped 3.5 per cent and Pfizer rose 4.1 per cent. Caterpillar, which is expected to prosper from ramped-up public works spending, rose 2.5 per cent.
Nasdaq's move lower marked a reversal from the initial market reaction yesterday when the three major indices rallied.