Facebook, Twitter lead Nasdaq lower

new york — The Nasdaq sank more than one per cent on Wednesday, with social media companies leading technology stocks lower as Twitter and Facebook executives faced US Congress over what lawmakers see as a failure to combat foreign efforts to influence US politics.

The broader market was also weighed by a drop in energy stocks as oil prices weakened and fears over the likelihood of the United States slapping new tariffs on Chinese goods as early as this week.

Twitter dropped 5.4 per cent and Facebook fell 1.8 per cent as their top executives faced lawmakers.

Alphabet, whose offer to send its chief legal officer to Congress rather than its chief executive officer was declined, slid 2.6 per cent. Snapchat-parent Snap Inc was down 4.4 per cent.

“The testimony is going to affect the tech sector and there are some concerns about how government and policies could pose as a threat to these growth stocks,” said Ryan Nauman, market strategist at Informa Financial Intelligence in Zephyr Cove, Nevada.

“But it won’t have a huge effect on the overall market today, will likely only hurt the sector.”

The technology sector tumbled 1.81 per cent, the most among the 11 S&P sectors. But seven of the 11 sectors were higher, led by the consumer staples sector’s 0.78 per cent gain as food packaging companies rose.