Wall Street Risk-Off: Tech Falls, Nasdaq Dragged
Wall Street opened lower on Thursday (February 5), and the sentiment was clear: the market was entering risk-off mode. The S&P 500 fell again, while the Nasdaq was dragged down further, with the biggest pressure coming from large-cap technology stocks.
Early in the session, the S&P 500 fell about 1% and the Nasdaq fell about 1.4%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also fell 0.7%, shedding hundreds of points as investors reduced positions in assets deemed "overcrowded" in recent weeks.
The main trigger came from Alphabet's earnings report. Investors weren't just looking at profit figures, but also "future costs": Alphabet projected a surge in AI spending and prepared a large capital expenditure plan through 2026. The market read this as a signal: growth is still there, but the bills are also getting higher—and that immediately took a hit to its stock.
The pressure was compounded by Qualcomm's collapse after providing a weaker-than-expected outlook. Concerns about the supply chain, including component/memory availability issues, have made market participants increasingly defensive in the semiconductor sector.
It's not just stocks. On the other hand, the crypto market is also heating up: Bitcoin briefly broke below $70,000, a psychological level that many traders consider important support. When that level wavered, risk-off sentiment spread even further.
Precious metals were also unsettled. Silver was hit by selling and fell sharply, breaking the previous two-day rebound. Its volatility remains extreme after last week's major drop, so its movements are easily "widened" when liquidity is tight.
From a macro perspective, the market also has additional reasons to be cautious. Challenger's layoff data shows the number of job announcements soaring to the highest level in January since the global financial crisis. Furthermore, initial jobless claims also rose higher than expected—reinforcing concerns about the state of the US labor market.
In conclusion, the combination of depressed technology, shaky crypto, volatile silver, and weak employment signals has investors opting for safety. The market's focus now is: is this simply a healthy correction, or the beginning of a longer risk-off phase?
Source: Newsmaker.id
