Wall Street star investor Cathie Wood is watching the market closely this week and taking action: buying on dips.

Several ETFs under Wood's ARK Invest have bought various tech stocks as the market fell. ARK Invest, an influential firm with $6.7 billion in assets under management, has seen its funds underperform recently. Reports earlier this year showed that investors pulled a total of $2.2 billion out of its funds due to poor performance.

Wood hopes to reverse that. This week, at least two Ark Invest ETFs bought shares of tech companies whose stock prices have plummeted over the past month. The actively managed ARK Innovation ETF bought about $45 million worth of shares in companies such as Amazon, Advanced Micro Devices and Coinbase, based on the opening prices on the day of the purchases. The firm's ARK Next Generation Internet Fund bought $9.5 million worth of Meta, Tesla and Robinhood shares based on the same calculation. The two funds also bought other stocks.

All of the above companies were caught up in the sharp sell-off that spread across the entire market. However, it remains to be seen whether Wood bought the stocks at low prices or when the market began to collapse.

“She can be right or she can be wrong,” said George Kailas, Prospero’s chief executive. “She’s certainly been a bit of both over the last few years.”

Kailas was referring to Ark Invest's bet on Tesla, which made the firm a ton of money when Tesla's stock rallied in 2021. However, the firm's performance has been much more disappointing since then. The Next Generation Internet fund, which invests in cloud-related internet companies, is down 2% year to date. Meanwhile, its flagship ARK Innovation ETF is down nearly 20% this year. Neither ETF has reached the heights to which they soared in 2021.

The tech selloff coincided with, or some might say was the culprit for, a global stock market sell-off that saw sharp one-day declines on Friday from Japan to the U.S. Since then, Japan's Nikkei and the S&P 500 have both rebounded slightly, but not enough to allay fears among some investors that the stock market may be a short-term rebound.

"I feel like this is a dead cat bounce," said Gene Goldman, chief investment officer at financial services firm Cetera. Goldman Sachs predicts the S&P 500 will be "down 10% or more from peak to trough."

Kellas agreed, but was more cautious, saying if he had to pick a direction for the stock market, it would be "slightly bearish."

Like Wood, there is a group of long-term growth investors who also see the current state of the market as an opportunity.

UBS said in an analyst note Thursday that despite the market turmoil, many technology companies are in good shape, making their falling stock prices look cheap. "We believe that fundamentals for technology stocks remain solid, while valuations have been recalibrated lower," the analysts wrote.

UBS said it expects second-quarter earnings growth for the global technology industry to be 20% to 25% higher than a year ago. The bank also expects earnings to continue to grow by 15% to 20% over the next year and a half.

However, even investors who want to sell are exercising caution. Paul Meeks, a well-known technology stock investor and former portfolio manager, said: "I haven't bought it yet. Although I like the price, I don't like the timing."

In the United States, investors were caught by surprise when the Federal Reserve opted not to cut interest rates in July. Markets now see a September rate cut as a near certainty.

UBS remains bullish on tech stocks, in part because of what it calls "tech factors," which have more to do with the macro economy than with individual companies themselves.

For Kellas, there are other macro factors that worry him, primarily the U.S. election. “Part of what’s really difficult is that the declines that we’ve seen, I think, have to do with politics and geopolitical issues,” he said.

Trying to predict the outcome of any election can be a headache for investors. This time, however, whether a Republican or Democrat wins the White House could mean even greater uncertainty about the future of the tech industry.

No potential government has offered a clear solution for regulating the technology, Meeks said.

Democrats have shown a determination to regulate big tech companies that is largely unprecedented, while Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Harris has close ties with some of Silicon Valley's most important figures.

Meanwhile, there is uncertainty about the Republican candidates themselves. Vice presidential candidate JD Vance is a former venture capitalist who has the support of influential tech companies such as Peter Thiel. However, former President Trump has proposed comprehensive tariffs, which would be devastating for some tech companies.

The article is forwarded from: Jinshi Data