The Nasdaq 100 is on course for its biggest weekly drop since the April 2025 tariff announcement, as concerns over AI trades push investors into Treasuries. Yields fell, and the Russell 2000 is also heading for another weekly loss.
Big Tech stocks are on track for their biggest weekly drop since Donald Trump announced tariffs in April 2025. Treasuries, meanwhile, had one of their best weeks of the year as investors looked for the relative safety of government debt.
The Nasdaq 100 fell 2.4% in Friday afternoon trading, stretching its decline over a five-session losing streak to more than 5.4%. The index now sits 6.9% below its intraday record high from earlier this month.
Chipmakers and neocloud stocks lead the slide
Chipmakers and so-called neocloud companies again led Friday's declines. CoreWeave shed more than 12%, Intel fell 5.1% and Sandisk retreated 4.9%. The S&P 500 was down 1.3% in afternoon trading.
Jim Caron of Morgan Stanley Investment Management said the equity market was at risk of a tech-led correction, which is typically defined as a drop of 10% from a peak. Aviva Investors' Richard Saldanha said the upswing in tech stocks "did defy gravity for a period of time".
Smaller companies have felt the strain too. The Russell 2000 was on course for a weekly drop of 2.8%, its sixth consecutive weekly decline and its longest losing streak since October 2018.
Treasury yields retreat from 2002 highs
The yield on 10-year US Treasuries was trading at 5.1% on Friday, down 0.13 percentage points this week. Last week, borrowing costs had risen above 5.3%, their highest since 2002.
Even data showing US inflation jumped to 3.7% in September did not undermine demand for Treasuries this week. Royal London Asset Management's Trevor Greetham pointed to a sense that the Federal Reserve may hold rates in October.
Source: Financial Times
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