TheDrop Market Analysis, 01/08/24

Markets fell significantly for most of the day, but suddenly rebounded before market close.

At the start of the day, a massive selloff ensued following news of Donald Trump's possible declaration of a national emergency in order to justify the implementation of a flat tariff rate on all imported goods. However, as sentiments shifted and the next critical job report took the spotlight, stocks made some sort of a rebound, ultimately ending in the green, albeit narrowly. The Dow went up 0.25% and the S&P 500 rose 0.16%. However, due to very deep losses in AI and chipmaking today, the Nasdaq fell narrowly, 0.06%.

Most large stocks listed on the Nasdaq stayed largely stagnant. Nvidia fell 0.02%, Microsoft rose 0.52%, Broadcom rose 0.3%, Apple rose 0.2%, and Tesla rose 0.15%, demonstrating the rather lackluster investor optimism level of the day.

Yet, what drove the Nasdaq down was a combination of two stocks. Most significant was Rigetti, a chipmaker, which fell by a whopping 45.4%, reversing years of gains in the NYSE. Additionally, IonQ, a computing stock, fell by a similarly devastating 39% on the dot. These stocks' declines were so significant, investors poured in to short the stocks, thus reducing their declines throughout the day.