One-Day Wonder Or The New Trend?


Well, that was interesting. In what can probably best be described as a fast money rotation game (something I like to call “Hedge Fund Follies”)- where traders sold the big-cap tech leaders and continued to buy the beneficiaries of the tax reform and the improving economy themes with both hands – the DJIA posted a triple-digit gain, while the Nasdaq 100 endured a triple-digit loss.

Yep, that’s right fans; the FANG’s had a bad day at the office while the banks and transports soared. Such is life at times in the stock market game. Odd yes, but definitely not unprecedented.

For those keeping score at home, the FANG’s did indeed have a rough outing. Facebook (NYSE: FB) fell 4%, Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN) lost 2.71%, Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX) dove 5.54%, and Alphabet (Nasdaq: GOOGL) dropped -2.44%.

But the losses weren’t limited to just the FANG’s as the semiconductors, which have been on quite a run since the middle of August, also got hit hard. For example, the Semiconductor Index declined 4.39% yesterday with components such as Micron (NYSE: MU) and Lam Research (Nasdaq: LRCX) suffering losses of 8.7% each and Applied Materials falling (Nasdaq: AMAT) 7.7%.

But before you get into a lather about selling the semis and/or the rest of your big-cap tech and heading for the hills, consider that the Semiconductor Index had soared 26% from mid-August through last Friday. As such, a pullback – yes, even a nasty one – was to be expected.

It is also worth noting that the NDX experiences these bad days at the office on a fairly regular basis. As the chart below illustrates, there have been a handful of ugly – albeit brief – periods on the NDX this year.

Nasdaq 100 – Daily 

The question, of course, is if this time will be different. Maybe its the complacency talking, but my gut reaction is, no. In general, tech is where the growth is and after brief bouts of difficulty, institutional investors have tended to calmly and methodically return to the growth areas – once the fast money folks are done with their hysterics, that is.

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