Stocks took a huge hit today. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 5.5 percent. The Dow Jones U.S. Technology Index went a little further than that, sliding 5.8. But overall, the tech sector was, well, not completely horrifying.
There were a few bright spots. Or at least, less dim. Apple, which had more cash on hand than the Treasury last week, was hit hard, dropping more than 20 points. But in fairness, at 5.46 percent it did slightly better than the market as a whole. Microsoft and IBM also beat the Dow today. (Although Dell was hammered, losing 7.37 percent. Oracle even more so, losing 8.22 percent.)
And when you compare the U.S. Technology Index to other U.S. indexes on the Dow, it’s doing comparatively better. The overall U.S. index was down 6.95 percent, for example, while the U.S. Financials index lost 9.73 percent, and Oil and Gas lost 8.4 percent. The Dow Jones U.S. Total Stock Market Index fell a full seven percent.
Is this good news? No. It was a terrible day. And whether or not there’s a technology bubble on top of everything else remains to be seen. But if you were heavily invested in tech stocks, you can take some small solace in knowing that it could have been worse.
