Nasdaq drops by 1.6% as major tech stocks decline across the board, with Amazon(AMZN.US) falling over 4%

2026-02-26 04:52:36

On Thursday, the three major U.S. stock indices all opened lower, with the Nasdaq falling further by 1.6%. Leading tech stocks declined across the board, with Google A (GOOGL.US) and Amazon (AMZN.US) dropping over 4%, Tesla (TSLA.US), Microsoft (MSFT.US), and AMD (AMD.US) falling more than 3%, and Nvidia (NVDA.US) down over 1%. Meanwhile, the VIX fear index surged 22%, hitting a new high since December last year.

On the economic front, U.S. job openings in December unexpectedly fell to their lowest level since 2020, with layoffs slightly increasing, further indicating weak demand for labor. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Thursday that job openings in December decreased from the revised 6.93 million in November to 6.54 million, below market expectations. The decline in job openings was mainly driven by professional, business services, and retail sectors, while increased layoffs reflected larger cutbacks in transportation and warehousing. Although hiring increased, overall levels remain low. The data suggest that companies are still cautious about hiring as they assess their staffing needs and economic outlook.

Additionally, the pessimistic narrative of a “software-mageddon” in the global stock markets is gaining momentum. Hedge funds are increasing their short positions in software stocks, becoming one of the main drivers of the sharp sell-off in this sector this year. According to financial analytics firm S3 Partners, hedge funds have made $24 billion in profits from shorting software stocks since 2026. Meanwhile, the total market value of the U.S. software industry has evaporated by $1 trillion.

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