US tech stocks suffer biggest fall in over a year as jobs report fuels rate hike fears

Investors holding U.S. technology stocks faced a grim start to the weekend as major indices saw significant declines. The Nasdaq Composite, a benchmark for many large U.S. tech companies, plummeted 4.2 percent during Friday's trading on Wall Street. This marks the most substantial single-day fall since April of the previous year.

The sell-off appears to be linked to a robust U.S. jobs report released Friday, which exceeded expectations. This positive economic data led to a rise in U.S. market interest rates, diminishing the likelihood of imminent interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve. For companies reliant on borrowing for investments, such as those in data centers, rising rates increase financing costs.

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It is obvious that the stronger than expected job report makes it harder for the Fed to lower rates for the rest of the year.

"It's obvious that the stronger-than-expected jobs report makes it harder for the Fed to lower rates for the rest of the year," said Ryan Detrick, chief market strategist at Carson Group, in comments to Reuters. He added that this has caused the market to panic and sell off shares that had performed best earlier in the year.

Despite Friday's sharp decline, the Nasdaq Composite index has shown resilience, maintaining a year-to-date gain of 10.7 percent. The broader market also saw losses, with the S&P 500 falling 2.6 percent and the Dow Jones Industrial Average losing 1.4 percent.

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This has caused the market to panic and sell out of the stocks that have performed best so far this year.