Tech profit juggernaut gets first big test in week of reversals

The stay-at-home trade just got kicked to the curb.

At least for a week, anyway. Down 5.5%, the Fang bloc — Facebook Inc., Amazon.com Inc., Netflix Inc. and Google’s parent Alphabet Inc. — suffered its worst drop since March. As hopes for an economic rebound bubbled back up, money darted to cyclical stocks, a once-ignored corner of the market. As a result, the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 trailed the S&P 500 by the most since 2009.

Strange as it sounds, it’s been that — speculation the economy will shake off the Covid crisis — that has most often threatened tech’s preeminence in 2020. Positive data on a potential vaccine raised those odds in investor minds, making stocks optimized for a lockdown seem less precious.