Between the artificial intelligence (AI) boom, a pause in interest rate hikes, and successes in the fight against inflation, 2023 remains notable as a year of recovery both for the stock market and numerous cryptocurrencies.
Despite the overall positive trend and the optimistic expectations for 2024, the first days of the New Year have brought notable declines to some of the world’s largest stocks.
The cumulative market cap of the world’s largest companies significantly declined over the course of the first week of the year, as pointed out by Evan, a stock market analyst on X, on January 8, 2024.
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Among the companies, seven technology giants have experienced a significant decline – Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA), Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA), and Google’s parent company – Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL).
Overall, the total market cap of the ten stocks fell from approximately $15.50 trillion to $15.15 trillion in a week.
U.S. tech stocks drop in 2024
The downturn evident among major companies is spearheaded by the largest U.S. tech stocks. While the exact reasons behind the drop of each of the stocks aren’t necessarily easy to pinpoint, a broader tempering of expectations surrounding the expected interest rate cuts is one likely culprit.
When it comes to Apple, its decline is, as was previously reported by Finbold, largely driven by two downgrades in a single week – one from Barclays analysts and the other from Piper Sandler.
As for Google, its decline was possibly partially caused by reports indicating a plan to fire as many as 30,000 workers from close to New Year’s Day.
Finally, among the seven tech giants, Apple and Tesla are the biggest losers at the time of publication, having fallen 6.61% and 6.92%, respectively, in the last 5 trading days.
Not all major stocks declined at the start of 2024
While the drop in the share price of the seven technology giants was significant and had a major impact on the overall market cap of the ten largest stocks in the world, not all companies on the list found themselves in the red since New Year’s Day.
A major winner when it comes to trading after the new year is the pharmaceutical giant – Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY). In the last 5 market days, the company’s shares are up as much as 6.28%, and their price, at the time of publication, stands at $618.55.
Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRKB) and Saudi Aramco (SAOC) – the final two stocks on the list – are also in the green since January 1, but to a lesser extent. The former is up 2.23% in the period and the latter 1.21%.
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