US markets tumble as investors shun tech stocks; Dow falls 1%, S&P 500 down 0.6%

The US markets tumbled on July 19 as investors moved away from tech stocks towards more cyclically oriented names. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell over a percent to 40,250. The index was dragged mainly by American Express, Intel and IBM which shed up to nine percent.

S&P 500 fell 0.62 percent to 5,512 and the Nasdaq Composite declined 0.66 percent to 17,754. Nvidia, American International Group and Hartford Financial Services drove this decline.

Earlier during the month, tech stocks had driven the benchmark indices to new record highs. However, with revived hopes for Federal Reserve’s rate cuts, investors are now looking at other sectors.

The GIFT Nifty fell 0.3 percent to 24,464 after the Indian indices ended lower earlier during the day.

Indian markets hit fresh record highs during intraday trade with Nifty at 24,854.80 and the Sensex at 81,587.76. However, the benchmark indices tumbled during closing hours. Nifty ended over 1 percent lower at 24,530 and Sensex fell 0.9 percent to 80,604.65.

DIIs net sold Rs 461.56 crores in Indian equities while the FIIs/FPIs net purchased Rs 1,506.12 crores.

The European markets edged lower after the European Central Bank’s decision this Thursday to hold interest rates steady for now. Earlier, the bank had cut interest rates in June. The FTSE fell 0.6 percent to 8,155.72 and the CAC was down 0.69 percent at 7,534.52. The DAX tumbled over a percent to 18,156.59.

Earlier during the day, the Asian indices traded negative owing to weak global cues. Nikkei fell 0.16 percent to 40,063.79 and the Hang Seng tumbled 2 percent to 17,417.68.

Crude also traded negative, down 1.6 percent at $81.51. Brent fell 1.42 percent at $83.90.