In the rollercoaster world of tech stocks, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) managed to keep its $3 trillion market cap.
Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA), a fellow trillion-dollar titan, fell short due to recent market turbulence.
What Happened: Apple managed to hold its $3-trillion status since June 2023; its stock boasts a 15.87% increase over the past year and a 7.64% gain year-to-date. The Cupertino, California-based company's market cap is currently hovering at around $3.2 trillion.
Nvidia, like Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT), achieved the $3 trillion milestone this year. But its valuation currently sits at $2.59 trillion, despite a breathtaking 129.54% surge over the past year and a 110.51% increase year-to-date.
The Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE: XLK) has declined 4.77% since the beginning of August, outpacing the S&P 500 Index's losses (at -3.80%).
Analysts and investors alike have been on edge, watching mega-cap tech earnings reports with bated breath. The sector's initial optimism quickly faded as disappointing earnings and cautious outlooks from some key players triggered a sell-off.
The Nasdaq 100 Index, tracking the top 100 non-financial tech stocks, entered correction territory last week. From its intraday high of 18,671.07 on July 11, the index has plummeted over 10%, highlighting the severity of the pullback.
Why It Matters: The collective losses of Apple, Nvidia, Microsoft and Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN) equaled the entire U.S. spending for national defense and veterans in 2023.
The Nasdaq Composite has taken the brunt of the damage, shedding about 7.27% of its value over the past five days.
Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives aptly described the situation as a "Category 5 storm sell-off."
"The perfect storm panicked tech sell-off has now gained steam after the weaker jobs report," Ives noted. Despite the turbulence, some analysts see this as a natural market correction rather than a full-blown crisis. Ives reassured investors by calling it "just a white-knuckle moment in a multi-year bull run for tech stocks."
ETF Watch: Track these tech behemoths via exchange-traded funds (ETFs): Invesco NASDAQ 100 ETF (NASDAQ: QQQM) and the Invesco QQQ Trust (NASDAQ: QQQ).