Apple leads Big-Tech slump with worst drop since November

Apple Inc. led shares of the largest technology companies lower in the first trading day of the year, suffering its worst decline in more than a month amid a broad market sell-off.

Shares of the iPhone maker fell as much as 4.5% on Monday before recovering some of the losses to close down 2.5% at $129.41. The decline was the biggest since Nov. 23. Amazon.com Inc. and Microsoft Corp. both fell more than 2%, compared with a 1.5% decline in the S&P 500 Index.

The U.S. equity market sank on Monday after ending 2020 at an all-time high. Technology megacaps including Apple and Amazon, which were among the top performers last year, were particularly hard hit in the sell-off, which was driven by concern that a surge in coronavirus cases could crimp the nascent economic recovery.