--- title: "Weekend Wrap: Tech tantrum and REA's selloff" description: "This weekend's newsletter highlights a tumultuous week in markets, with tech stocks suffering significant losses, particularly the S&P/ASX 200 Tech Index, which is down 20% year-to-date. REA's recent " type: "news" locale: "en" url: "https://longbridge.com/en/news/275211252.md" published_at: "2026-02-07T22:00:00.000Z" --- # Weekend Wrap: Tech tantrum and REA's selloff > This weekend's newsletter highlights a tumultuous week in markets, with tech stocks suffering significant losses, particularly the S&P/ASX 200 Tech Index, which is down 20% year-to-date. REA's recent earnings report missed expectations, leading to a dramatic 17.75% drop in share price at the open. Additionally, Rio Tinto's fourth failed merger attempt with Glencore raises concerns about its future growth strategy. Amidst this volatility, the ASX is projected to see earnings growth in FY26 and FY27, driven by resource-related earnings. Hi there! This article is an excerpt from our weekend newsletter - which talks all things markets plus some interesting data insights and memes Join 100,000+ readers receiving the Newsletter every Sunday morning - Register here. It's free. Tech tantrum and REA's selloff Hi there! What a week, with commodities tumbling, crypto crashing and large cap tech sinking. It felt like someone is rotating from asset class to asset class, and blowing them all up with a barrage of selling pressure. At times like this, it gets pretty dark out there. The RBA is now expected to hike again in May, US layoffs surged to the highest since 2009, US-Iran tensions continue to boil and Bitcoin has fallen off a cliff. Commodities are also ripping one day, and dipping the next (but mostly dipping this week). On the plus side, the ASX is set to deliver its first year of earnings growth, after posting flat-to-negative growth over FY23-25. Consensus expects EPS growth of 8-9% in FY26 and FY27, largely driven by higher resource-related earnings. Perhaps this is just a healthy pullback? Let's dive in. Investor sentiment survey Over the next three months, do you expect the Australian stock market to be: - Bullish - Neutral - Bearish The tech selloff Tech stocks are in deep pain – with the S&P/ASX 200 Tech Index down 20% year-to-date and down 40% since late September. There’s a lot of chatter about this sector, so here are some tidbits I found interesting: - On the weekly chart, the RSI of the Tech Index 18, far below Liberation Day (37), COVID (28) and the height of the GFC (26). This is only comparable to the Dot-com bubble (11) – which goes to show just how much more oversold it can get - The bottoming process from such conditions is never a pretty one – you get weeks of sluggish price action around those eventual lows - Most tech names are still fairly expensive – on a trailing price-to-earnings basis, you’ve got Life360 (137x), Xero (53x), Technology One (52x) and Wisetech (51x) - JPMorgan analyst Toby Ogg said we are now “in an environment where the sector isn’t just guilty until proven innocent but is now being sentenced before trial … better-than-expected results are no longer enough to convince the market,” Ogg wrote. That’s unless “they can demonstrate irrefutably that AI is a sustainable tailwind to growth rather than a longer-term headwind.” - The Jefferies trading desk also noted "I ask clients, ‘what’s your hold-your-nose level?’ and even with all the capitulation, I haven’t heard any conviction on where that is. People are just selling everything and don’t care about the price." REA showcases extreme selling REA reported its 1H26 result on Friday, which slightly missed market expectations, along with a weaker-than-expected full-year guidance for listings growth. - Revenue up 5% to $916m vs $927.7m ests (1% miss) - Net profit from core operations up 9% to $341m vs $344.1m ests (1% miss) - Interim dividend up 13% to $1.24 per share vs. Morgans ests of $1.29 (4% miss) - FY26 national residential Buy listing volumes to fall 1-3% year-on-year compared to market expectations of flat growth The price action that followed was something you’d never expect to see from a large cap. The below order book shows: - Opened 17.75% lower to $150.01 - At the open, there was a total of ~$35,000 of buy orders spanning $150-100 - Theoretically, if you sold ~$35,000 on market, you could very briefly drive the share price 44% lower to $100 - On the buy side, there was ~$330,000 for $150-152, another ~$20,000 between $155-158 and the next order from that was $165 I think this was a massive “WTF” moment as no one expected such an open. The lack of liquidity saw a massive knee-jerk move, with the stock rallying ~15% off the low to $172.50 in just four minutes (imagine buying the dip!). Given the heightened volatility and downbeat sentiment towards certain sectors, this is certainly a reporting season that warrants caution. Glen-Tinto fails (again) Rio Tinto failed its fourth attempt to merge with Glencore. Now Chief Executive Simon Trott has another thing in common with his predecessors Tom Albanese, Sam Walsh and Jakob Stausholm – a failed merger attempt with Glencore. The main catalyst was price, as Glencore wanted approximately 40% of the combined entity, while current market caps imply a 32-68 split. This leaves Rio in a tricky spot since: - Rio wants more copper, but cannot organically grow it fast enough to move the needle at the group level. The company remains over-exposed to iron ore - Rio probably won’t make a big cash takeover, given the PTSD from its 2007 Alcan purchase (bought a US$38bn aluminium producer right before the GFC) - China’s Aluminium Corp holds 14.5% of Rio’s LSE-listed shares, and the shareholding agreement limits buybacks Last laughs Anthropic have just buried OpenAI and ChatGPT with this ad. It's a short 60 second skit – and there's no coming back from that. ### Related Stocks - [RIO.AU - Rio Tinto Limited](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/RIO.AU.md) - [REA.AU - REA Group Ltd](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/REA.AU.md) ## Related News & Research | Title | Description | URL | |-------|-------------|-----| | REA 集团收购了 Simplicity Loans & Advisory 70% 的股份 | REA Group Limited 已收购澳大利亚商业金融经纪公司 Simplicity Loans & Advisory 的 70% 控股权，其余 30% 预计将在 2029 年底之前完成。Simplicity 将继续在现有品牌和管理层下 | [Link](https://longbridge.com/en/news/275378072.md) | | Jarden 重申对 REA Group Ltd (RPGRF) 的持有评级 | Jarden 分析师 Tom Beadle 对 REA Group Ltd (RPGRF) 维持了持有评级，目标价为 177.00 澳元，而该股收盘价为 168.10 澳元。Beadle 负责通信服务行业，平均回报率为 -1.1%，成功率为 | [Link](https://longbridge.com/en/news/275399385.md) | | MSCI 指数大举增纳中国公司，被动资金将开启新一轮 “扫货”？ | 近三年最大规模！MSCI 大举增纳中国股票，净增 21 家公司，科技股强势主导。此举不仅为被动资金开启 “扫货” 窗口，更迫使全球基金重估中国资产价值。随着 AI 与创新企业权重提升，中国股市正迎来新一轮资金注入与结构转型的关键时刻。 | [Link](https://longbridge.com/en/news/275555727.md) | | 黄金一度跌超 4%、白银暴跌 11%，美股大跌引爆算法交易贵金属卖盘？ | 周四，现货黄金一度下跌 4.1%，白银暴跌 11%。在外界再次担忧巨额 AI 投资能否真正大规模落地之际，美国科技股大跌。分析称，金属价格在疑似算法交易抛售下突然下跌，一些投资者不得不退出包括金银在内的大宗商品仓位，以获取流动性。 | [Link](https://longbridge.com/en/news/275815052.md) | | 美股盘中速递：Corsair Gaming 跌 13.84%，分析师冷淡与回购未能提振市场信心 | Corsair Gaming 跌 13.84%；闪迪跌 3.66%，成交额达到 74.07 亿美元；苹果涨 2.58%，成交额达到 61.2 亿美元；西部数据涨 1.01%，成交额达到 9.8 亿美元；希捷科技跌 0.75%，市值达到 92 | [Link](https://longbridge.com/en/news/276155389.md) | --- > **Disclaimer**: This article is for reference only and does not constitute any investment advice.