STOCKS TAKE BIGGEST FALL SINCE EARLY JUNE

NEW YORK — Wall Street’s euphoria took a break Thursday, as steep losses in technology stocks dragged the rest of the market down with them.

The S&P 500 fell 125.78 points, or 3.5%, the biggest decline for stocks since early June. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 807.77 points, or 2.8%, to 28,292.73. There seemed to be no explicit catalyst for the sell-off, with economic data coming in roughly where the market had expected and no companies issuing foreboding warnings.

That said, the market felt due for a breather, investors said. Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq hit record highs just the day before. Prior to Thursday, the S&P 500 had risen nine out of the previous 10 days.

Apple dropped 8%, Amazon lost 4.6% and Facebook gave back 3.8%. The Big Tech stocks have made massive gains this year. Market watchers have been questioning recently whether those gains were overdone. Apple is still up 64.7% for the year, and Amazon is up 82.3%. Zoom’s gain for the year is still a whopping 460.4%.

“There’s really very little to justify [these stocks’ upward move] other than euphoria,” said Mark Hackett, chief of investment research at Nationwide.

Hackett also said the market has “embedded very optimistic assumptions” about the virus’ impact on the economy, as well as on prospects for Washington coming up with another economic relief package.

Semiconductor stocks also fell sharply, though even with Thursday’s 9.3% drop, Nvidia is still the biggest gainer in the S&P 500 this year.