Shares remained under pressure as sentiment deteriorated after artificial intelligence-related concerns triggered a selloff in US technology stocks. Gold and silver rebounded in choppy trading.
Equity-index futures for the US fell 0.2% and Asian shares tumbled 1.4% — the first decline in six sessions. Chinese tech stocks dropped as investors trimmed risks before the Lunar New Year holidays on the mainland and in Hong Kong. Contracts indicated a tepid open for European stocks.
The Nasdaq Composite finished down 1.4 percent after spending almost the entire session in negative territory.
“The rotation away from tech began at the beginning of the year and it’s kind of building on itself here,” said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O’Hare. “The tech sector had such strong outperformance last year and for several years. There are so much good news that has been priced into the stocks that there’s really like zero room for error.”
US President Donald Trump signed into law a congressional spending bill to fund government agencies while buying more time for lawmakers to negotiate over spending for the administration’s controversial immigration crackdown.
