By Yasin Ebrahim

Investing.com – The S&P 500 closed lower Monday, as investors continued to abandon tech at a time when rates continue to climb and inflation is expected to remain elevated.      

They fell 1.3% and 0.9% respectively, while the Nasdaq dropped 2.1%.

Facebook (NASDAQ): fell 5% after Frances Haugen, a whistleblower for Facebook, claimed that Facebook prioritizes profits over the well being of its users.  

Twitter (NYSE 🙂 and Snap(NYSE 🙂 fell more than 5% after the news.

As investors put more money into inflation and rates, the tech sell-off was made worse by negative sentiment about growth stocks.

Apple (NASDAQ) and Microsoft (NASDAQ), as well Amazon.com (NASDAQ), Alphabet (NASDAQ), were all down more than 2%.

High-value growth stocks such as tech tend to have cash flow that is more outwardly oriented than the present, which can be unattractive when inflationary conditions are in place.

The sea of red at Wall Street was also a result of health care, which led by Moderna (NASDAQ:) as investors continued to ditch the stock following positive news of Merck’s late-stage trial for their new anti-viral pill.

The trend was fueled by the rising prices of oil, which were supported by OPEC+’s agreement to increase oil output by 400,000 barrels/day in November.

Wall Street’s mood was also affected by the uncertainty that Washington continues to create on many fronts. For example, Washington must raise its debt ceiling before Oct. 18, in order to avoid defaulting.

Auto stocks rose with General Motors and Tesla leading the charge.

General Motors (NYSE 🙂 rose 1.6% in the wake of Engine No. 1.6% increase in General Motors (NYSE:) after Engine No.  

Tesla (NASDAQ:) was also up 0.8% following reports that Tesla’s Q3 sales rose to record levels despite the chip shortage that continues to hamper industry activity.

Oppenheimer stated in a memo that the supply management system of the company and its flexible operation system seem to have been serving the company well since demand is outstripping supply.