INTERNATIONAL – The Nasdaq Composite index fell about 2.5 percent on Monday, hit by a slump in Apple shares after two suppliers cut their forecasts, sparking a selloff in other iPhone component makers and weighing on technology stocks in general.
Apple shares fell 4.7 percent to $209.67 (R3 032), their lowest since July 27, after Lumentum Holdings, the main supplier for Face ID technology, and screen maker Japan Display cut their forecasts.
Lumentum plunged 31 percent and dragged down other Apple suppliers, many of them chipmakers such as Cirrus Logic, Qorvo and Skyworks Solutions.
The technology sector, which has fueled much of the US stock market's bull run, fell 3.3 percent, while the Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index dropped 4.4 percent.
"The valuation in tech sector could potentially go lower and the semiconductors are really going to weigh in the near-term, especially with the fresh releases in numbers and the China situation," said Lindsey Bell, investment strategist at CFRA Research in New York.
"You always have regulation concern with tech, and with semis, we're hitting a low with the business cycle and that's a big concern."
Earlier, a rebound in oil prices had offered some relief to energy stocks, but they succumbed to the broader selling pressure, with the S&P energy index down 1.3 percent.