Stocks plunged sharply yet again as investors were confronted with mounting fears about Europe’s ongoing debt crisis, this time in France. Tech sector pretty much gave up the previous session’s gains in a broad market selloff. Large-cap tech shares fell across the board. Those who lost more than 5% by the end of the session included: Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft, Dell, Amazon. Apple closed down about 2.8%, but managed to end the session with a higher market cap than oil giant Exxon Mobil, which has been for years the most valuable company in the world based on market cap. Cisco got a positive bounce after the closing bell as the results came in slightly above estimates. Implied volatility surged to the 40 level on huge volumes. A reading higher than 30 is considered a sign that investors are getting worried, but volatility is still way below the peak level of almost 83 hit in October 2008 – after Lehman Brothers collapsed.
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Plunged on fears about Europe’s debt crisis
Stocks plunged sharply yet again as investors were confronted with mounting fears about Europe’s ongoing debt crisis, this time in France. Tech sector pretty much gave up the previous session’s gains in a broad market selloff. Large-cap tech shares fell across the board. Those who lost more than 5% by the end of the session included: Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft, Dell, Amazon. Apple closed down about 2.8%, but managed to end the session with a higher market cap than oil giant Exxon Mobil, which has been for years the most valuable company in the world based on market cap. Cisco got a positive bounce after the closing bell as the results came in slightly above estimates. Implied volatility surged to the 40 level on huge volumes. A reading higher than 30 is considered a sign that investors are getting worried, but volatility is still way below the peak level of almost 83 hit in October 2008 – after Lehman Brothers collapsed.
