Google’s parent company, Alphabet, experienced a significant drop in share price, resulting in a $180 billion market cap loss. This decline was the worst for Google since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Other tech giants, including Apple, Microsoft, Meta, Amazon, Nvidia, and Tesla, also saw their share prices fall, leading to a total loss of over $280 billion from the tech sector. Microsoft was the only exception, with its share price rising due to better-than-expected growth in its Azure business. The widespread tech selloff has raised concerns about a potential tech recession, as reflected in increased searches for “stock market crash.” In contrast, the cryptocurrency market has been trending upward, with a 16.3% increase in market cap over the past week. Bitcoin, Ether, BNB, and XRP have all seen notable gains during this period. While Bitcoin has shown signs of decoupling from tech stocks and the S&P 500, it still exhibits characteristics of a tech stock due to its extreme volatility. However, it can serve as a hedge against the U.S. dollar. Recent investor movements suggest a potential “flight to safety” towards Bitcoin amid the decline in banking stocks.
