Tech stock sell-offs mean broader market losses

NEW YORK – A sell-off in technology stocks Monday pulled the broader market lower as investors unloaded some of the biggest names in the industry.

Netflix fell 7 percent, Facebook fell 5 percent, and Google and Amazon.com each fell more than 2 percent.

Tech stocks have soared over the past year, pushing the Nasdaq composite index up 30 percent over the past 12 months, more than twice as much as the Dow Jones industrial average. Netflix and Facebook have doubled in price in that time.

“The big high-fliers have done really well, and so I think there’s been some profit-taking,” said Randy Warren, chief investment officer of Warren Financial Service.

The Nasdaq lost 50.4 points, or 1.2 percent, to close at 4,226.39.

Other indexes also fell, but not as much. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 9.08 points, or 0.5 percent, to 1,857.44. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 26.08 points, or 0.2 percent, to 16,276.69.

A popular fund tracking biotech stocks, the iShares Nasdaq Biotech ETF, fell 3 percent on Monday. It’s been up 53 percent over the past 12 months.