Wednesday’s trading session saw a post-Labor Day Weekend sale in the technology sector, causing the Nasdaq to lose 1.19% and tech ETFs to plummet. Leading the pack of market decliners in the Nasdaq was JD.com Inc–down 10.6%, Workday Inc–down 9.2% and Netflix Inc–down 6.2%.
The three largest tech ETFs in terms of total assets declined–the Vanguard Information Technology ETF Technology Equities (NYSEArca: VGT) fell 1.29%, the Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund Technology Equities (NYSEArca: XLK) was down 1.58% and the First Trust Dow Jones Internet ETF (NYSEArca: FDN) lost 2.72% at the close of the market.
Shares of Facebook and Twitter also slumped as their chief executives, Jack Dorsey and Sheryl Sandberg, faced Congress to answer a battery of questions on preventing foreign influence operations in elections and abuse on social media platforms.
“When you have these corporate executives dragged to Congress, that makes the market more nervous,” said Robert Pavlik, chief investment strategist at SlateStone Wealth. “That’s why you’re seeing the market take more of a wait-and-see approach on these stocks.”
The Nasdaq experienced its worst drop since Aug. 15 as the Justice Department said Attorney General Jeff Sessions will meet with state attorneys general later in the month to discuss whether tech companies “may be hurting competition and intentionally stifling the free exchange of ideas on their platforms.”