Trump Tech Meltdown Hits Fourth Day

The stock market’s post-election bifurcation sharpened Monday as technology shares extended their worst performance since the start of the bull market on speculation Donald Trump’s trade and immigration policies will translate into lower earnings, according to Bloomberg. Apple, Facebook and Alphabet led the S&P 500 Information Technology Index down 1.7 percent for the biggest retreat since September.

The group stands out as the only industry that normally benefits from a rising economy not to rally on speculation Trump’s policies will stoke domestic growth. Tech stocks in the benchmark equity gauge have slumped 3.1 percent over four days, trailing the S&P 500 Index by 4.2 percentage points, the most since May 2009. Small caps in the Russell 2000 Index surged 1.2 percent to an all-time high.

No single fact explains the tech rout though everything from trade and immigration policy to industry rotation to flat-out campaign retaliation have been cited. Technology is the biggest group in the S&P 500 by far and one of the only ones to consistently post earnings growth over the last 18 months.

The S&P 500 slipped less than one point for a second day of losses, with tech giants bearing the worst of the rout. The FANG block of Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Google parent Alphabet each fell more than 2.4 percent. The group has dropped every day since Trump’s victory, sinking 8 percent for the worst retreat since February amid concern about the impact of Trump’s policies on trade overseas, where U.S. technology companies thrive.