Wall St rocked as Apple and Facebook plunge
ShareS on Wall Street tanked last night as some of america’s biggest tech companies took a hammering from investors.
apple fell nearly 4pc – taking losses since its October peak to over 20pc – following reports that the company has cut production orders for the iPhones unveiled earlier this year.
Facebook followed suit, falling more than 5pc. The social media titan’s shares have dropped 14pc over the past month.
Tech shares more broadly slid amid allegations from Chinese authorities that some of the world’s top computer chip-makers were engaging in anti-competitive behaviour.
even amazon shed more than 5pc ahead of Black Friday and the Christmas shopping period.
The Dow Jones Industrial average fell 1.5pc, the S&P 500 dipped 1.6pc and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite lagged 3pc.
Back in the UK, fertiliser company Emmerson will reveal a study today that shows its flagship potash mine in Morocco will be cheap to run compared to similar projects.
‘Outstanding’ infrastructure in the area will help keep costs down and the mine is expected to deliver cashflows of more than £140m a year.
The company yesterday closed down 2.7pc, or 0.1p, at 3.6p.
as Britain’s blue-chip index fell again amid ongoing Brexit dramas, JPMorgan warned investors not to start ploughing money into cheap-looking stocks just yet.
although the temptation might exist for traders to start piling cash into the FTSe 100’s ‘bargain’ stocks – particularly UK-exposed companies which have taken a beating as the path towards a Brexit deal became ever-more murky – analysts at the investment bank said there could be more trouble in store.
Banks, housebuilders, property firms and retail businesses should still be avoided, analyst Mislav Matejka wrote in a note to clients, because the chance that Theresa May’s Brexit deal will be approved by Parliament is still slim.
he said: ‘The eventual passing of the deal, probably some time between mid-December and midJanuary, will largely depend on things getting significantly worse from here in order for enough rebel MPs to fall back in line.’
In the meantime, the prospect of no deal, a leadership challenge to Mrs May and the possibility of a Labour government could further drag down shares in UK companies, Matejka warned.
The FTSE 100 pared gains early in the day to end down 0.2pc, or 12.99 points, at 7000.89.
On the FSTe 250, Diploma – which supplies components for Formula One racing cars – revved ahead of its peers to end the day as the index’s biggest riser. The firm, which also supplies medical equipment and seals and wiring to transport and defence companies, revealed in its full-year results that revenue was up 7pc to £485.1m.
Profit before tax rose 9pc to £72.7m. Shares climbed 4.2pc, or 54p, to 1349p.
The firm has generated a total return of 1382.6pc for investors over the past decade, while the FTSe250 has made just 224.9pc and the FTSe 100 a mere 155.1pc.
among the smaller companies on the London Stock exchange, graphene businesses had a strong day. Versarien, which is looking to incorporate its Nanene version of graphene into clothes, wound dressings and aeroplane components, shot up 6.1pc, or 7.5p, to 130p as it signed an agreement with a Chinese company to partner on building a manufacturing centre in China. Its smaller rival, Haydale Graphene, soared 36.7pc, or 5.5p, to 20.5p as it signed a contract with Thai banknote printer TKS Siampress.