Investors in big technology stocks have a serious case of whiplash.
Amazon.com Inc. AMZN, +13.54% broke the record Friday for the largest-ever one-day gain in market value for a U.S. company — just a day after Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc. FB, -0.28% suffered the largest-ever loss.
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The dramatic moves suggest investors are moving quickly to draw distinctions among the growth prospects of some of the biggest U.S. companies as they reassess their valuations in anticipation of higher interest rates.
Both stocks have surged so far, so fast in recent years that any big move can rattle the broader market and set various records. Amazon is the fourth biggest company in the U.S. by market value, behind Apple Inc. AAPL, -0.17%, Microsoft Corp. MSFT, +1.56% and Alphabet Inc. GOOGL, +0.14% GOOG, +0.26%, with a market capitalization of about $ 1.63 trillion, while Meta is No. 7, even after Thursday’s declines.
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In recent days, investors have shown they have more faith in the tech companies whose services are seen as staples than in those whose offerings are more elective, said John Lynch, chief investment officer at Comerica Wealth Management, which manages $ 175 billion. “Within tech we’re starting to see a delineation between necessities and wants,” he said. “In a rising-rate environment, you’re going to have noncorrelated moves in the market.”
An expanded version of this report appears at WSJ.com.
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