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Investors Business Daily
Investors Business Daily
Business
MATT KRANTZ

10 Imploding Stocks Cost Investors A Staggering $2.6 Trillion

The S&P 500 is down "only" 8.2% since its July 16 high. So why does the drop feel so bad? It's because staggering amounts of money are being lost.

Drops in just 10 S&P 500 stocks, including Nvidia, Microsoft and Amazon.com, wiped out more than $2.6 trillion from investors' portfolios since mid-July, says an Investor's Business Daily analysis of data from S&P Global Market Intelligence and MarketSurge. That lost value in just weeks is more than what the entire S&P 500 was worth in the mid-1980s.

Much of these massive losses is focused on just a handful of AI-infused giant tech stocks. These are the same stocks that soared in the first part of the year and pushed the S&P 500 to highs. Now, investors are worried they paid too much for these giants. The loss by just 10 stocks accounts for nearly two-thirds of the $4.2 trillion loss in value by the entire S&P 500 since mid-July. Much of it is due to rising fears of a recession.

"The perfect storm panicked tech sell-off has now gained steam after the weaker jobs report this morning fuels the R word fears and worries the Fed is now too late in its cutting cycle with tech stocks in the center of this Category 5 storm sell-off," said Dan Ives of Wedbush.

The Bigger They Are ...

Investors who rode market indexes concentrated into just a handful of winning stocks are feeling the other side now.

The 10 S&P 500 stocks to lose the most market value this year account for a whopping 30% of the index. And that means their losses sting all the more. Take Nvidia, which has been one of the top S&P 500 stocks for months. The stock is down roughly 20% since July 15. That translates into a massive loss of $629 billion, the largest amount lost since then for any S&P 500 company. But the size of the loss makes sense as you're shaving more than a tenth off a company valued at $2.6 trillion. It's easy to see why investors are so eager to own Nvidia, as it sports a near perfect 98 Composite Rating.

Microsoft underscores the theme that even moderate losses on a percentage basis can turn into huge dollar-value losses. The tech giant with an early lead in AI has seen its stock drop by nearly 12.5% since July 16. But don't tell investors who have lost $410 billion on the stock's fall this is just a minor fall. And while the stock is still up nearly 8% this year, the Composite Rating has fallen back to 72.

It's Mostly A Tech Problem

The top 10 losses in market value are mostly centered in the S&P 500 tech sector. All but one of the supersize losses are in companies closely associated with information technology. But there's one exception: Eli Lilly.

The maker of weight-loss drugs is in the health care sector. But the stock is suffering tech-like losses. Shares are off roughly 16% since July. That wipes out $141.1 billion in market value. Investors, though, still think Eli Lilly is a blockbuster machine. Despite the drop, the stock still carries a Relative Strength of 92 and Composite Rating of 94. Analysts think the company's profit will more than double this year and jump another 40% in 2025.

But in the meantime, this S&P 500 sell-off is getting uncomfortable.

Biggest Dollar-Value Losses In S&P 500

Since July 16, 2024 high

Company Ticker % ch. From 7/16 Market Value lost ($ billions)
Nvidia NVDA -20.3% -$629.4
Microsoft MSFT -12.3% -$410.2
Apple AAPL -10.7% -$410.2
Amazon.com AMZN -16.8% -$324.2
Alphabet GOOGL -11.8% -$285.9
Tesla TSLA -22.0% -$178.9
Eli Lilly LLY -16.6% -$141.1
Broadcom AVGO -16.7% -$132.0
Advanced Micro Devices AMD -23.9% -$68.6
Qualcomm QCOM -23.9% -$58.2
Sources: S&P Global Market Intelligence, IBD
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