(Reuters) – Monday’s rise in tech-heavy index was the worst since 2008. Investors stayed away from high-priced stocks amid rising rates, mixed earnings, and growing geopolitical tensions.

Values of technology and growth stocks have been subject to increasing scrutiny. The Nasdaq fell 12% as of Friday.

Last week, the U.S. Federal Reserve declared at its final monetary policy meeting that they intend to counter the high four-decade inflation rate by increasing key interest rates faster than most market participants.

Fed funds futures traders project almost five rate rises per year, and some banks such as Bank of America, NYSE:, are anticipating seven.

With the U.S. warning Russia that it will attack Ukraine with economic sanctions, geopolitical tensions are causing market volatility.

6.43 a.m. ET was down 170 points (or 0.49%), were down 9.5 points, or 0.2%, while Nasdaq100 e-minis had a gain of 49.75, or 3.4%.

According to the American Association of Individual Investors Sentiment Survey 2009, the highest percentage of individual investors who see stock prices falling in six months was 9 years ago.

This month, the bellwether fell 7% and could report its worst month since March 2020’s pandemic-led crash.

An abrupt drop in stock prices has led investors to evaluate equity valuations and determine if it is the right moment to bargain hunt.

Following strong performance from Apple (NASDAQ;) and Microsoft(NASDAQ:), the fourth-quarter earnings season has begun with Google parent Alphabet, Amazon (NASDAQ :), and Meta Platforms reporting later in this week.

As of Friday, of the 168 S&P 500 companies that have posted earnings so far, 77.4% reported above analyst expectations, according to Refinitiv.

Tesla (NASDAQ:) rose 2.1% premarket after Credit Suisse (SIX 🙂 rated the stock as “outperform” after electric-car manufacturer’s shares dropped nearly 10% over the past week.

Beyond Meat, a plant-based patter maker (NASDAQ:), rose by 5% Barclays (LON) The stock has been upgraded to “overweight”.