Number of Nasdaq Stocks Down 50% Or More Is Almost At a Record

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg: A near-record number of tech stocks have plunged by some 50% in an echo of the dot-com crash. Roughly four in every 10 companies on the Nasdaq Composite Index have seen their market values cut in half from their 52-week highs, while the majority of gauge members are mired in bear markets, according to Jason Goepfert, chief research officer at Sundial Capital Research. 'Whatever the fundamental and macro considerations, there is no doubt that investors have been selling first and trying to figure out the rest later,' Goepfert said in a note.

Another way of thinking about the tech wreck: At no other point since the bursting of the dot-com bubble have so many companies fallen like this while the index itself was so close to a peak. 'Valuations are at historical highs, companies are raising billions based on fairy dust, and the Fed is signaling a tightening cycle,' Goepfert said. 'All of these are scaring investors that we're on the cusp of a repeat of 1999-2000.' The Nasdaq Composite index is on pace for its biggest weekly decline since November, even as it rose in the New York afternoon trading session Thursday. A 3.3% fall Wednesday marked its worst single-day session since February last year.

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