Central-bank monetary tightening rattles tech stocks
Central banks are turning more hawkish on raising interest rates - and tech stocks don't like it.

Global markets caught a bad case of the January blues. America’s S&P 500 ended last month down more than 5%, its worst monthly performance since March 2020 and its worst start to a year since 2009. Big tech firms led the rout, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite falling almost 9%. Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropped 6.2%. The pan-European Stoxx 600 retreated 3.9% in January for its worst month since October 2020. The FTSE 100 ended the month up 1.1%, but the more domestically focused FTSE 250 finished down 6.6%.
The key theme so far this year has been “the hawkish pivot by multiple central banks”, say Henry Allen and Jim Reid of Deutsche Bank. On 31 December, interest-rate markets were pricing in about three increases by the US Federal Reserve this year. By the end of January, that number had risen to almost five. Money looks set to get tighter “much earlier than anticipated”.
That’s a headwind for fast-growing technology stocks in particular, says Patrick Hosking in The Times. Many investors are betting that firms with “innovative intellectual property” or dominant market positions but few or no profits so far can reap big rewards in the future. But higher interest rates make “expected profits in five, ten or fifteen years look dramatically less appealing than hard profits today”. With rates “so close to zero”, even “modest rises” have a huge impact.
Subscribe to MoneyWeek
Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE

Sign up to Money Morning
Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter
Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter
This month’s market “spasms” show that investors are having a difficult time coming “to terms with the end of the era of free money”, says The Economist. Some thought it would “pretty much last forever”. Hence corporations and housebuyers binged on debt during the pandemic, while government borrowing soared. We are about to find out just how vulnerable the world economy is to higher debt servicing costs.
Sign up for MoneyWeek's newsletters
Get the latest financial news, insights and expert analysis from our award-winning MoneyWeek team, to help you understand what really matters when it comes to your finances.
Alex is an investment writer who has been contributing to MoneyWeek since 2015. He has been the magazine’s markets editor since 2019.
Alex has a passion for demystifying the often arcane world of finance for a general readership. While financial media tends to focus compulsively on the latest trend, the best opportunities can lie forgotten elsewhere.
He is especially interested in European equities – where his fluent French helps him to cover the continent’s largest bourse – and emerging markets, where his experience living in Beijing, and conversational Chinese, prove useful.
Hailing from Leeds, he studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at the University of Oxford. He also holds a Master of Public Health from the University of Manchester.
-
8 of the best energy-efficient properties for sale
The best energy-efficient properties for sale – from a HUF HAUS in London’s Dulwich Village to a contemporary property in the Lake District National Park
By Natasha Langan Published
-
Revealed: the new £1 million UK postcodes
We look at some of the priciest parts of the UK, where properties are selling for £1 million or more
By Daniel Hilton Published
-
Should you limit exposure to US tech stocks?
An end to the AI boom would shake both US funds and global trackers. Here’s one way to trim exposure to US tech stocks
By Cris Sholto Heaton Published
-
No need to run from the robots: Nobel laureate Daron Acemoglu talks to MoneyWeek
Interview Daron Acemoglu, Nobel Prize winner and professor at MIT tells Matthew Partridge why the gains from AI have been overhyped
By Dr Matthew Partridge Published
-
Deepseek's Liang Wenfeng: the maths whizz who shook Big Tech
Few people had heard of Liang Wenfeng until the launch of his DeepSeek AI chatbot wiped a trillion dollars off US technology stocks. His pivot to AI was of a piece with his past exploits.
By Jane Lewis Published
-
Four UK data companies to buy now
Companies that create, harness or turn data into a valuable offering could be sitting on a hugely profitable gold mine. Rupert Hargreaves picks four of the best UK data companies to buy now.
By Rupert Hargreaves Published
-
China's DeepSeek AI is a 'Sputnik moment' for the US
The US is facing a new “Sputnik moment” with the sudden appearance of China's DeepSeek AI firm wiping $1 trillion off the value of US tech stocks.
By Alex Rankine Published
-
RedNote: the rise of the new TikTok
RedNote, a Chinese rival to social-media app TikTok, has seen millions of US users flock to it in the wake of the US TikTok ban. That caught the company by surprise. What is RedNote and can its popularity last?
By Jane Lewis Published
-
What does Big Tech's alliance with Donald Trump mean for the US?
The alliance between Big Tech and the new US president Trump is causing concern
By Emily Hohler Published
-
Will AI be the future of advertising?
It remains to be seen, but the idea that AI providers can make money from advertising does not bode well
By Matthew Lynn Published