Tech stocks drop as Wall Street focuses on Trump stimulus

By Noel Randewich

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Shares of Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN), Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOGL) and other technology companies sank on Thursday as Wall Street sold them to pay for infrastructure names that could benefit from potential economic stimulus spending by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump.

Before his unexpected victory in Tuesday's election, investors had worried about uncertainty that a Trump presidency might create, but traders in the past two days have been looking to business sectors that might stand to benefit.

Amazon fell 4.7 percent to its lowest level since July, while Alphabet dropped 2.3 percent. Facebook Inc (NASDAQ: FB), Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ: MSFT) lost about 2.7 percent each.

"I don't think there's anything in the new administration that's going to be negative for tech stocks," said Michael Yoshikami, head of Destination Wealth Management. "It's just that other things are more in demand, and so there's a rotation."

In his acceptance speech, Trump reiterated his commitment to increased infrastructure spending, while striking a conciliatory note and avoiding references to controversial campaign promises.

The S&P 500 technology index <.SPLRCT> dropped 2 percent on Thursday and was on track for its steepest daily decline in two months, while the materials index <.SPLRCM> rose 1.27 percent. The industrial index <.SPLRCI> jumped 2.1 percent, helped by a 3.8 percent surge in Caterpillar Inc (NYSE: CAT).

Banks also rallied on expectations that Trump would roll back financial regulation.

The technology sector recently traded at about 16.2 times expected earnings, in line with the S&P 500 <.SPX>, according to Thomson Reuters Datastream. The materials sector traded near 15.9 times expected earnings.

Thursday's loss leaves Apple, which is struggling with lackluster iPhones sales, up 1.9 percent in 2016, lagging the S&P 500's 6 percent rise.

(Reporting by Noel Randewich; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)

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