Not Amazon, Microsoft is now second most valuable US firm after Apple

Not Amazon, Microsoft is now second most valuable US firm after Apple

Microsoft has recaptured its second spot in irder to become most valuable US firm, dethroning Jeff Bezos' Amazon. The latest development came after Amazon reported disappointing quarterly numbers.

Apple Inc tops the list at over $1 trillion after crossing that threshold in September. Microsoft’s market capitalization was Wall Street’s highest in late 1998 through early 2000 before the dot-com bubble burst.

Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Google-parent Alphabet were at the center of a volatile session on the U.S. stock market on Monday, cleaving $200 billion off of the so-called FANG group’s combined market capitalization in two sessions.

With each company’s share price down between 14 percent and 24 percent in October, the quartet of stocks that has been the most popular trade on Wall Street in recent years appears to be in trouble.

Advertising

Advertising

The most recent catalyst hurting FANG was Amazon’s quarterly results last week, which missed analysts’ expectations and ignited worries the tech darling is finally facing stronger competition

Amazon’s stock has fallen 14 percent since then, its worst two-day decline since 2014, with the online retailer and cloud computing seller relinquishing its spot as the second largest U.S. company by stock market valuation to Microsoft.

Investors in recent months have become increasingly concerned about rising costs and damage to Facebook’s reputation following criticism of its management of users’ personal data.

Apple will report quarterly results on November 1.

Declines in big tech and Internet stocks such as Amazon pushed the Nasdaq lower on Monday, while strength in financial shares mitigated declines for the S&P 500 as investors grappled with a recent spike in market volatility.

The three major U.S. stock indexes lost their initial solid gains from earlier in the session.

Major tech and growth stocks, such as Amazon, Google parent Alphabet and Netflix, posted sharp declines. The S&P 500 technology sector fell 1.2 percent.

Investors are wary of any rally given increased volatility over the past month, stemming from higher interest rates and worries about the economy and trade tensions. The S&P last week flirted with correction territory.

“These growth stocks just got so over-valued it is only natural to see some air come out of that balloon. That could continue for a while,” said Stephen Massocca, senior vice president at Wedbush Securities in San Francisco.

(With inputs from Reuters)