Tech Slump Drags S&P 500 Back Into Correction Territory

The benchmark S&P 500 index fell 2.2% on Monday, pushing shares more than 10% off their January highs and into correction territory.

According to Bloomberg, this is the worst April start for the index since its 2.5% fall 89 years ago. Equities also lost more than on any quarterly first day since October 2011, according to the figures.

Following last week's falls, when the FAANGs suffered their worst ever one-day share price drop, the technology-heavy Nasdaq fell 2.7% in Monday's trading and erased this year's gains.

Shares in Asia were also down around 1% overnight, with technology stocks the hardest hit, including Tencent down 2%.

In Europe, the FTSE 100 was down 0.65% in early morning trading at 7,010. The £6.17bn Scottish Mortgage investment trust, which has a high weighting to technology names, was the biggest loser, down 2.88% by 9am to 429.47p.

Recent falls for technology stocks have been caused by concerns about an impending global regulatory crackdown on the sector, following revelations about Facebook's involvement in the Cambridge Analytica data abuse scandal.

Amazon also came under fire from US President Donald Trump last week for "putting many thousands of retailers out of business", while he criticised its tax policy, sending shares in the online retail giant down over 5%.

Meanwhile, Trump has reignited fears about the escalation of a global trade war, as China imposed retaliatory tariffs against the US on a range of goods, including pork and wine, after he unveiled tariffs on steel and aluminium imports.