From: "Thomas Jr., Landon" To: Jeffrey Epstein <[email protected]> Subject: Smart analysis on big tech -- Apple section highlighted Date: Mon, 17 Sep 2018 18:35:55 +0000 China's big tech stocks have fallen into a bear market at the same time that regulatory threats against U.S. big tech companies are gaining momentum. Can U.S. big tech stocks soldier on alone or is this a harbinger that the group as a whole is losing its tremendous leadership position? Sep is. 2018 Technology & Security Tech Backlash Save Article Download PDF big-tech-backlash In recent months, China's BAT collapse has demonstrated how costly the expectation of invincibility can be—Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent are all down more than 24% from their year-to-date closing highs. Citigroup's head of Asia strategy, Mohammed Apabhai, told CNN an apt analogy about the investor sentiment that led to BATS collapse, likening "the exuberance for tech stocks to the Looney Tunes cartoons in which Wile E. Coyote chases Road Runner over a cliff." Given they've more or less moved in tandem for years, will FAANG follow the same path as BAT? Source: Stockcharts.com The BAT collapse was triggered by subpar earnings and a shifting regulatory environment in China. Facebook's miss in 2Q18—which drove a $120 billion single-day market cap loss, the biggest ever for a U.S. company—showed how decisive a turn could be if more U.S. tech darlings stumble this quarter. There are mounting fundamental reasons to question the 3Q18 earnings prospects of FAANG, from the accelerating user backlash against Facebook to Apple's trade war exposure to Amazon's rapidly-intensifying workforce revolt that could see the e- commerce giant left with no option but to raise wages and improve workplace conditions for its warehouse and Whole Foods employees. EFTA01022816