Tech Carried the Stock Market. Now They’re Taking It Down With Them.

The prospect of still-higher short- and long-term interest rates produced the worst week for the S&P 500 index in the relatively young year, a drop of 2.67%, and the third straight down week for the big-cap benchmark. The Dow Jones Industrial Average losing streak stretched into its fourth week with a 2.99% decline, its biggest since last September, which put the blue chips in the red for 2023. The Nasdaq Composite shed 3.33%, as the rate threat weighed especially heavily on technology stocks with high valuations, about which more in a minute.

What makes the situation for stocks and other risk assets unfavorable isn’t just the possibility that interest rates may have further to rise. It’s also that this is looming at the same time the economy is losing steam, something many investors haven’t experienced.