Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in New York City.
Doha: Two experts described the future of technology sector companies in the United States as volatile, especially in light of the escalating competition from several markets, particularly the Chinese market, noting that the sharp declines recorded by the shares of this sector on Monday, clearly reflect this transformation and fluctuations that the sector is now witnessing.
In remarks to Qatar News Agency (QNA), the two experts attributed the declines in Monday’s session to concerns about the trade policies pursued by the United States, which raised investors’ concerns about the stability of the American economy and the possibility of a recession.
In addition, the emergence of the Chinese startup DeepSeek with advanced artificial intelligence technologies at a lower cost increased concerns about the ability of American companies to compete.
In this context, investment manager at Qatar Securities Company (QS) Ramzi Qasmieh said that the US markets suffered heavy losses on Monday, the worst since 2022, as the Nasdaq index for technology stocks fell by around 4 percent, recording its worst daily performance since 2022.
The shares of Nvidia, the largest company in the field of producing electronic chips, fell by around 5 percent.
The shares of Meta, which owns Facebook, also fell by around 4.4 percent, bringing its losses in the last month to more than 16 percent.
He pointed out that Tesla’s stock staggered, losing around 15 percent in Monday’s session, thus wiping out about 45 percent of its value since the beginning of this year.
Qasmieh added that the aforementioned declines came as a result of fears of the negative economic impact of the tariffs imposed by US President Trump, who stated that the US economy is going through an important transitional period, and as a result, US indices continued to decline, as the S&P 500 index fell yesterday by around 2.7 percent and the Dow Jones Industrial Average by 2.1 percent.
Business Insider also noted that other major tech companies, known as the “Magnificent Seven,” also saw significant declines, with Nvidia shares down 5.1 percent, Alphabet (Google’s parent company) down 4.5 percent, Apple down 4.9 percent, Meta (formerly Facebook) down 4.4 percent, Microsoft down 3.3 percent, and Amazon down 2.4 percent.
Amid these volatility, the future of the technology sector remains unclear, with concerns persisting as the Volatility Index (VIX), which measures the level of fear in the markets, rose, reflecting uncertainty among investors. European markets also witnessed similar declines, with the German DAX, French CAC, and British Financial Times indices falling.
On another note, Vice-Dean of Business School for Academic and Quality Assurance at Al Al Bayt University in Jordan Omar Khlaif Gharaibeh pointed out that the sector’s losses have put increasing pressure on investors.
Dr. Gharaibeh said that the technology sector in the United States witnessed a wave of sharp losses, as the Nasdaq index lost around $1.309 trillion, in one of the largest collective declines in a while.
The losses were distributed across a large number of companies, as 80 companies out of 100 recorded a decline in their market value, which raised investors’ concerns about the future of the sector in light of the current economic changes.
Tesla was the worst hit, with its shares down 16 percent, wiping $436bn off its market value, reflecting mounting pressure on the electric car sector, both from slowing demand and increased competition.
