CBS/MW: Who's behind the tech selloff?
by: GospElvis (F/TN)
1/5/2000 11:34 pm EST
Msg: 91699 of 91723
cbs.marketwatch.com /http2_mw
NEW YORK (CBS.MW) -- Who was behind the sell-off in technology stocks this week? Not individual investors, argues
Ameritrade.
The online brokerage has started tracking
the way its customers are investing and
posting the daily action on the Web. The
freshest data, at ameritradeindex.com,
shows that a big majority of customers, 76.5
percent, were buyers on Tuesday, the day
Nasdaq fell 5.6 percent. More Ameritrade
customers were buyers on Tuesday than on
Monday when 69 percent were buyers.
And they're high-flying tech stock enthusiasts.
The number one stock among the buyers
was Qualcomm (QCOM: news, msgs),
followed by America Online (AOL: news,
msgs), Yahoo (YHOO: news, msgs) and JDS
Uniphase (JDSU: news, msgs). (The top
three stocks also happened to lead sell
orders at Ameritrade, but by a much smaller
percentage. Qualcomm buyers outnumbered
sellers six to one.)
(edit)
Institutions, meanwhile, are likely acting more quickly to
rebalance their portfolios to reflect concerns about the
relationship between the level of bonds and the elevated level of
stocks, he said.
Profit taking was likely a big motive for both investor groups.
"Both retail and institutions were very anxious to have certain
stocks in portfolio (in December)," Collins said. "Some of these
guys who bought in December can afford to sell a whole lot of
Qualcomm and still have a huge profit."
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