A bad day for chip makers just got worse.
Semiconductor shares in the S&P 500 Index fell 4.4 per cent at the close of trading, their worst performance since February 8, after a report that Apple plans to start using its chips as soon as 2020 rather than processors made by from Intel. All 15 members of the group lost at least 2.6 per cent, with Intel down 6.1 per cent, its biggest rout since January 2016.
The group was already lower by 3 per cent before the Bloomberg News report, as a renewed tumble in technology shares led broader market measures to the worst day since the early February sell-off. Chip makers, which set a record just three weeks ago, have now lost 11 per cent amid an exodus of cash from a popular semiconductors exchange-traded fund last month.
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“This is part of the tech unwind story that was exacerbated with Apple’s move toward eliminating parts of the food chain in favour of doing it themselves,” said Josh Lukeman, head of ETF market making for the Americas at Credit Suisse.
Investors pulled almost a half a billion dollars - the most on record - from the VanEck Vectors Semiconductors fund in March. The fund, which goes by the ticker SMH, had attracted record inflows a month earlier.
While Intel pushed the group deeper into the red, there were other signs of trouble in a group that had rallied more than 50 per cent in the prior two years.
Nvidia, the ETF’s fifth largest holding at 5.1 per cent, is down 8 per cent in two weeks. It more than tripled in 2016 and doubled again last year. Micron Technology, another sector heavyweight, has lost 18 per cent since March 20, after it gave a disappointing sales forecast for the third quarter. Its dizzying pace of revenue growth had fuelled its rally.
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Anxiety and work stress major factors
Anxiety, work stress and social isolation are all factors in the recogised rise in mental health problems.
A study UAE Ministry of Health researchers published in the summer also cited struggles with weight and illnesses as major contributors.
Its authors analysed a dozen separate UAE studies between 2007 and 2017. Prevalence was often higher in university students, women and in people on low incomes.
One showed 28 per cent of female students at a Dubai university reported symptoms linked to depression. Another in Al Ain found 22.2 per cent of students had depressive symptoms - five times the global average.
It said the country has made strides to address mental health problems but said: “Our review highlights the overall prevalence of depressive symptoms and depression, which may long have been overlooked."
Prof Samir Al Adawi, of the department of behavioural medicine at Sultan Qaboos University in Oman, who was not involved in the study but is a recognised expert in the Gulf, said how mental health is discussed varies significantly between cultures and nationalities.
“The problem we have in the Gulf is the cross-cultural differences and how people articulate emotional distress," said Prof Al Adawi.
“Someone will say that I have physical complaints rather than emotional complaints. This is the major problem with any discussion around depression."
Daniel Bardsley
Our Time Has Come
Alyssa Ayres, Oxford University Press
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