Will technology stocks stage a comeback after a lackluster start to 2022? By mid-year, it’s looking like there could be some sunshine in the sector even as most of the significant players are suffering. The industry is currently being hit by one of its biggest financial downturns in 20 years. Against all odds, many of the world’s best-known tech firms outperformed the rest of the market during the darkest days of the recent pandemic. However, many of those same businesses are now feeling the heat of a long-term economic slowdown.
Mid-2022 is looking to be the season for major layoffs for industry leaders as not only US and European, but other major developed economic zones enter a recessional phase. Investors who are wondering how to start trading shares of their favorite corporations should follow the sector as well as individual company news to stay informed. That’s because technology has always been an arena in which there are a few standout performers no matter how poorly the rest of the segment and global economy performs.
The Major Players
In addition to the sector’s most famous names, it’s always instructive to see how the general market, as well as the segment itself, namely tech, is performing in real-time. Most of the important indices worldwide have lost huge chunks of their value since the start of the year. The results are even worse for tech-based shares due to the pandemic immunity many of those companies enjoyed for almost two years in a row. In the middle of a recession and facing rising inflationary pressure, the technological segment of the securities market is finally getting hit hard by an international round of bad news. One of the leading indices, the NASDAQ, had tallied about a 30% loss of value from January through early July.
Google (GOOG)
For Alphabet’s Google shares, 2022 has been a see-saw, but not totally negative, battle to remain between $3,000 and $2000 per share. After bottoming out in late May to just above the $2100 level, GOOG staged a mini-rally that lasted through the first week of July as the company was able to post handsome gains during the initial full week of the summer’s middle month.
Microsoft (MSFT)
Microsoft has endured a year much like its fellow industry leader Google, with the lowerpriced shares struggling to remain within a range between $240 and $330. Again, like GOOG, MSFT has been in the midst of a rally during the first month of summer. The computer giant bounced back quickly from year-to-date lows and successfully reached the $266 level, which is about where it stood in late April.
Meta (Formerly Facebook) and Nvidia (NVDA)
Not many large corporations survive a drop of 50% in a six-month period, but Facebook, now rebranded to Meta Platforms (FB to META) is no ordinary company. There have been long-term signs of implosion and chaos as the de facto leader of the social media behemoth, Mark Zuckerberg, dabbled in cryptocurrency with disastrous results.Now trading in the $170 range, toxic META is one of the prime shorting candidates among many tech enthusiasts. Nvidia has performed as most other typical segment leaders, losing about 50% percent of its value by July of 2022, with a minor rally here and there, but nothing strong enough to turn things around.