Why Apple and other megacaps rallied after Russia invaded Ukraine

As Russia launched a war against Ukraine, the Nasdaq Composite — down more than 3% at Thursday’s open — mounted a furious comeback, powered by megacap stocks like Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft and others.

Stock Chart

Jared Blikre for Yahoo Finance:

DailyFX.com Senior Strategist Christopher Vecchio joined Yahoo Finance Live early Thursday as the Nasdaq opened down nearly 3.5%. To help find signs of a bottom, Vecchio said investors should look to see elevated fear levels in the market as expressed by the CBOE Volatility Index (^VIX) and the CBOE VVIX Index (^VVIX).

“During other market sell-off episodes, two things have popped out that suggest we’re nearing an exhaustion point. That would be [the] VIX above 35, and VVIX — the volatility of the volatility index — moving above 150. We didn’t see that yesterday. It’s likely that we’re going to see that today,” said Vecchio…

Vecchio is also looking at some of the broader index levels falling into territory not seen since last year — giving some confidence to dip a toe in the investing waters again on a short-term basis.

“Both the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 are coming into some technically significant levels — really going back to the May 2021 lows. And I do think that at that point in time, given the specter of this sell-off, it becomes sensible from a risk-reward standpoint — at least try to cherry pick a short-term bottom,” he said.

EvercoreISI tech analyst Mark Mahaney shared a similar sentiment on Yahoo Finance Live Thursday, arguing that it makes sense to buy quality names at these levels — like Amazon and Google — if one’s investment time frame is longer. “If you have a 9 to 12 month outlook, you will be able to start off buying the highest quality names,” said Mahaney.

MacDailyNews Note: In other words, buy Apple on the discount and own it, don’t trade it.

Some analysts now believe that the Fed is less likely to be as hawkish with the monetary tightening process with war raging in Ukraine. Blikre reports that Vecchio believes the Fed will hike its benchmark rate in March by only 25 basis points instead of 50, regardless of the final inflation numbers that are released before the meeting.

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5 Comments

  1. Yep, it’s taken over.

    When people can’t decide/settle on truth, power is what is the determinant factor (botch of a PJ O’Roark quote).

    There’s a truth problem out there.

  2. I agree. I’m tired of this shit.

    CRY HAVOC AND LET’EM SLIP! Let’s find out if the Russians really do love their children too.
    We know the CCP doesn’t.

    There is no peaceful end to this. There is no win. If Russia gets what they want, they will embolden every tyrannical nation on the planet. It’s about time they find out we didn’t amass all these nukes because we just like big pointy things.

    Let slip the carriers! Send the troops in Launch the stealth fighters. LET THEM DO WHAT THEY WERE MEANT TO DO! LET THEM KILL THE AGGRESSORS AND DESTROY THEIR STUFF! NO HOLDS BARRED.

    And let’s knock on China’s door while we’re at it.

      1. You would be a complete idiot if you think Putin didn’t start the military preparations while orange dotard tweeted his way through 4 years of US retreat from the alliances and trade agreements that the US itself created.

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