By Yasin Ebrahim

Investing.com — The S&P 500 slumped Monday, paced by a selloff in energy and tech as investors continued to abandon stocks amid concerns about an inflation-led slowdown in global growth.

They fell by 2.6% and slid 1.4% (463 points), respectively, while the plummeted 3.7%.

A stronger dollar, fears of weakening Chinese demand and an increase in Covid-19 lockdowns caused more energy losses than 7%.

APA (NASDAQ;). Devon Energy (NYSE:) Marathon Oil (NYSE) were the largest decliners with all three down over 8%.

The recent China lockdowns are expected to slow growth in the world’s second largest economy, adding to fears of a significant slowdown in the global economy at a time when central banks are on the road to tightening monetary policy to rein in inflation.

“The Covid-zero policy [in China] has throttled household spending and has not left the productive side of the economy unscathed,” Morgan Stanley said. “The risk of an extended contraction is plain to see,” it added.

Tech, however, is still struggling as many investors seem wary to buy the dip, even while Treasury yields take a rest.

Meta (NASDAQ):, Google-parent Alphabet [NASDAQ]], Microsoft (NASDAQ]) and Apple (NASDAQ) all fell more than 2 percent while Amazon (NASDAQ) dropped more than 3 percent.

Microsoft was valued at $2 trillion by the Microsoft sale, its lowest valuation since June 2021.

The earnings front didn’t offer much to help improve investor sentiment as Palantir Technologies (NYSE:) plunged more than 18% after reporting and guidance that fell short of analysts’ estimates.

BioNTechSE (NASDAQ): However, it remained ahead of the wider market trends lower following its stronger-than-expected results which sent its shares up more than 3%.

Following bitcoin’s plunge to the lowest levels since June, cryptocurrency-related stocks such as Coinbase (NASDAQ) and Marathon Digital (NASDAQ), were both down by double digits. 

Wall Street is feeling negative about consumer staples. This was a clear sign that the sector with the most green stocks, was a defense corner.

Wells Fargo stated that Consumer Staples’ defensive qualities make it attractive in times of market volatility, and when the economy slows down.

Uber Technologies (NYSE 🙂 dropped more than 8 percent as Uber Technologies (NYSE 🙂 reportedly plans for scaling back its hiring, market marketing, and incentive spending. CNBC reported that Uber Technologies sent an email to employees on Sunday from Dara Khosrowshahi, the chief executive.