By Yasin Ebrahim

Investing.com – The Nasdaq moved off session lows Friday after falling below the key 14,000 level, as a Netflix-led rout in tech eased and dip-buying in semiconductor stocks kept a lid on losses. 

Although the slumped 1.3% was more than 2 points lower intraday, it had actually been higher. They fell 0.9%, and 0.6% (184 points) respectively.

Tech sentiment was low after Netflix (NASDAQ) began its quarterly earnings for large tech companies with disappointing guidance, which sent Netflix’s shares down by around 20%

Netflix’s earnings beat expectations. It also reported revenue in line. But its first quarter fiscal forecast for subscriber growth was below estimates. This raised concerns about the possibility of peaking growth in Canada or the U.S.

“Netflix’s first mover advantage and large subscriber base provides the company with a nearly insurmountable competitive advantage over its streaming peers. However, Netflix appears to have hit a ceiling on subscribers in UCAN,” Wedbush said in a note after reiterating its underperform rating and $342 on the stock.

Shockwaves erupted across the media stock market after Netflix’s slump. ViacomCBS (NASDAQ:), Walt Disney Both Discovery (NASDAQ:), and (NYSE 🙂 came under severe pressure.

Technology’s tech bleeding was partially stemmed by the dip-buying, which saw the stock prices of semiconductor stocks rise, with NSCPI, TXN, SLAB all leading the way.

Materials continued to suffer from the wider market slump. Ecolab (NYSE 🙂 saw an 8.8% drop after Ecolab cut fourth quarter guidance due to ongoing supply chain disruptions.  

Amazon.com, Tesla (NASDAQ) and Etsy were the largest drags in the consumer discretionary market.

Etsy Inc (NASDAQ:) fell more than 4% as Oppenheimer cut its price target on the stock to $225 from $285, citing a “decline in comparable valuations.”

It wasn’t all red on Wall Street as defensive concerns of the market including consumer staples and utilities found support.

A wider market decline coincided with volatility, which could have been exacerbated by Friday’s expiration of stock options worth $1.28 trillion.

Peloton Interactive (NASDAQ 🙂 surged 13% after a rally a day prior. The company had pre-reported higher fiscal Q2 revenue of $1.14billion, an increase from the $1.06billion a year earlier.