Pro Weekly: A Surprising Dip in Sentiment About Tech

We’ve been surveying our readers monthly since February to gauge their sentiment toward the tech industry and 14 well-known tech companies. In general, we’ve found that readers’ outlook tends to track the performance of tech stocks in the weeks prior to the survey. That relationship broke down this month.

Stocks have been on a tear since early November as investors have anticipated lower interest rates. The Nasdaq-100 Technology Sector Index, which has presaged sentiment in our surveys in prior months, is up 25% since Oct. 31. And yet readers’ outlook for the tech industry grew less optimistic in both November and December.