Stocks in the U.S. fall for the third day in a row. Bitcoin and silver are getting cheaper, Alphabet declined

U.S. markets are down for the third day in a row: a sell-off in the technology sector, rising volatility and falling prices for risky assets - from stocks and cryptocurrencies to silver - have intensified investor outflows. The market is also pressured by growing concerns over the state of the US labor market and the sustainability of the technology rally.

- The Nasdaq Composite technology index was losing about 1.5% at the moment after the opening of main trading in the US, although then slowed down to 0.5%. Shares of Alphabet, which owns Google, were down 8% at the moment: investors reacted to its reports.

- The S&P 500 index was down 0.9%, then recovered some of its losses and was also down 0.5%.

- The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.6 percent, followed by a 0.3 percent decline.

- The Russell 2000 index of small-capitalization companies was losing 0.9%.

- The Cboe VIX Volatility Index, also called the "Wall Street Fear Index," climbed 17% to over 21 points. The level of 20 is considered psychologically important.

- Gold was losing 3% and spot silver prices were down 17% for the day.

- Bitcoin fell below $70,000 for a while during the day. At the time of publishing this text, it was trading at $70,435, the CoinGecko service shows.

Investors intensified the outflow from risky assets: shares fell due to a new wave of sales of securities from the technology sector, and U.S. government bonds rose due to weak data on the labor market, Bloomberg writes. The fall in shares of software developers, chip makers and other companies related to artificial intelligence coincided with persistent doubts about whether the companies' huge investments in AI will be justified, the agency said.

"Three-quarters of software stocks are in oversold territory and the momentum play strategy that dominated the technology and software sectors last year is now under extreme pressure. I expect rationality to return to the market soon and a rebound - probably selective - will follow," said Andrea Gabellone, head of global equities at KBC Securities.

Adding to the gloomy market sentiment, concerns about weakness in the labor market have intensified, CNBC wrote. In January, U.S. employers announced 108,435 layoffs - the highest number for the first month of the year since the global financial crisis, the channel noted. In addition, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, the number of initial applications for unemployment benefits for the week ended January 31, increased stronger than expected.

"The weak US jobs data is the clearest manifestation of the K-shaped economy we are seeing right now. While the technology sector is booming, the rest of the economy is suffering due to higher duties and lack of demand. This forms a seemingly contradictory picture: GDP growth remains robust, while the labor market looks weak," Bloomberg quotes Joachim Clement, head of strategy at Panmure Liberum .

A day earlier, on February 4, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq ended the trading session in the negative: the sell-off in shares of chipmakers and software developers caused the indices to lose 0.5% and 1.5%, respectively, amid the intensification of the sell-off in the technology sector. The Dow Jones managed to grow by 0.5%.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor