Apple plunges 9%, leading tech sell-off

Apple CEO Tim Cook woke up Thursday to the worst day for his company's stock in five years.

- TRIPP MICKLE

Apple shares fell more than 9% in response to President Donald Trump's plan to put steep tariffs on products made abroad. The declines at the world's most valuable company led a sharp sell-off in tech stocks as the Nasdaq composite index, which is loaded with technology companies, sank nearly 6%.

Collectively, the largest tech companies, which have been at the forefront of the US economy over the past decade, lost nearly $1 trillion in the day of trading. The declines at Apple, Nvidia, Microsoft, Meta, Alphabet and Amazon resulted in one of the industry's worst-performing days since the Covid-19 pandemic turned the global economy upside down.

Instead of "liberation day," as Trump branded his tariff news conference, some market observers began calling it "obliteration day." Richard Kramer, an analyst at Arete Research, said, "Today is an across-the-board disruption of the American economy, so anything with consumer exposure is getting creamed."