The rout of technology in the markets continues

This is a report from today’s CNBC Daily Open, our international markets newsletter. CNBC Daily Open provides investors with information on everything they need to know, no matter where they are. Like what you see? You can subscribe here.

The Nasdaq continues to lag other major indexes
The S&P 500 and Dow Jones industrial index rose on Tuesday, but Nasdaq Composite retreated, having done so Art the second day it is insufficient. of Europe The Stoxx 600 Index down 0.08%, give up previous gains. BP fell 2.5% behind the oil giant said its fourth-quarter earnings will rise to $300 million due to lower refinery margins.

Meta cuts jobs and Microsoft freezes hiring
Meta will be cut about 5% of its lowest performing employeesconfirmed to CNBC on Tuesday. CEO Mark Zuckerberg informed employees of the decision in a memo posted on an internal company forum on Tuesday. Separately, Microsoft is planning suspend hiring in part of its consulting business in the US, according to an internal memo.

The SEC sued Musk over Twitter shares
SEC sued Elon Musk on Tuesday, alleging the billionaire committed securities fraud in 2022 by failing to disclose his ownership on Twitter and buying shares at an “artificially low price.” Before Musk acquired Twitter in 2022, he had accumulated a position in the company of more than 5%, which would have required him to disclose his stake to the public within 10 calendar days of reaching that threshold.

Slower increase in producer prices
US producer prices in December grew by 0.2% for the monthaccording to a Bureau of Labor Statistics report Tuesday. That’s lower than the 0.4% increase in November and the Dow Jones consensus estimate of 0.4%. On an annualized basis, the core producer price index rose 3.3% in 2024, compared with 1.1% growth in 2023.

Winners and losers of the strength of the US dollar
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of rivals, hit its highest level in more than two years on Monday after a hotter-than-expected U.S. jobs report last week. Here Europe’s biggest winners and losers from the surge in the dollar, according to analysts.

(PRO) Nasdaq selloff minor correction?
The Nasdaq Composite fell for the fifth day in a row on Tuesday. However, some wealth managers say this could be a minor correction for the market rather than the start of a downturn. They explain why they are not too concerned about sales.

The technology market hasn’t stopped yet.

The Nasdaq Composite lost 0.23%, underperforming the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average for a second day in a row, which rose 0.11% and 0.52%, respectively. All Magnificent Seven stocks fell, along with Meta, Tesla and Nvidia recording the largest losses in that order.

Adding to the sector’s woes, tech stocks fell on news of layoffs and hiring freezes.

In an effort to cut costs, Microsoft will freeze part of its consulting division’s hiring, cut travel expenses and reduce marketing expenses, according to an internal memo.

Meanwhile, Meta announced in an internal memo on Tuesday that it would “exit about 5% of our lowest performance.” (Just like you can “opt out” of fact-checking or “opt-in” of free speech, I guess.) Zuckerberg also warned employees that 2025 would be a “busy year.”

Of course, Zuckerberg’s warning was aimed at Meta, but it could also apply to tech companies struggling to make big investments in AI without necessarily having the revenue to justify such large capital expenditures.

However, as we enter fourth quarter earnings season, there are signs of optimism in the business environment this year.

“We think returns will be higher,” said Jay Hatfield, founder of Infrastructure Capital Advisors.

“The economy is strong in the fourth quarter. Companies will usually know by then if they’re going to be in trouble and will probably be pretty optimistic about the future because the Trump administration is business-oriented. Therefore, we believe that most CEOs are quite optimistic about the forecast for 2025.”

Bullish CEOs may be leading other sectors, as investors moved from tech to utilities, financials and materials on Tuesday.

Whether this sectoral rotation persists will depend on the consumer price index, which will decline later today.

— CNBC’s Lisa Kayla Khan, Hakyung Kim and Brian Evans contributed to this report.