By Suzanne Woolley
Almost 70% of technology stocks have fallen so far that they’re in a bear market (down more than 20%), and almost a third have tumbled more than 50% from their peaks.
But they may have farther to fall, if the tech bubble more than 20 years ago is any guide, according to a new report.
In 2000, within two months of the March peak, more than 90% of the tech sector was in a bear market, according to Richard Bernstein Advisors’ Dan Suzuki.
After that, “the mother of all dead cat bounces resulted in tech stocks rebounding more than 30% and recovering nearly two-thirds of their initial losses,” Suzuki said in the report. That bounce enticed investors to get back into tech — and the sector slid 82% over the next two years.
In the prior bubble, the tech and telecom sectors shrank from making up 41% of the S&P 500 to just 16% in 2002, the report noted. Today, the weight of tech and telecom sectors (telecom is now classified as the communication services sector) in the S&P 500 has fallen, but just from 40% to 38% as of March 2.
What signs should we look for to gauge whether the tech bubble is fully deflated? Suzuki laid out these markers:
- valuations that significantly contract and an IPO market that goes cold
- tech and crypto analysts going from being lionized to being viewed as villains
- fewer tech-focused investment products like ETFs
- the cancellation of tech- and innovation-focused TV and news columns
- people no longer quitting jobs to join early-stage start-ups or trade crypto
- and the fact that “no one will care about reading a report like this when the bubble has deflated.”
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com.
