Friday wasn't a good day on Wall Street, as early gains evaporated on trade-related concerns. New animosity between the U.S. and China showed up in ideas that Washington is now considering, and there doesn't appear to be any favorable resolution likely in the near future. Some stocks saw much larger losses than the broader market. Applied Materials (NASDAQ: AMAT), Alibaba Group Holding (NYSE: BABA), and Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE: JEF) were among the worst performers. Here's why they did so poorly.
Shares of Applied Materials fell 5% on a bad day for the semiconductor industry. Most of the attention among tech investors was squarely on Micron Technology, which said that average selling prices for its key memory chips continued to fall sharply over the past several months. That's bad news for Applied Materials, because it makes much of the equipment that semiconductor companies use to manufacture their chips. If the chip market remains weak, then the industry won't buy as much Applied Materials equipment, and that could last for the full duration of the cyclical downturn in semiconductors.
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