With the Nasdaq Composite hitting correction territory earlier this week, which is defined as at least a 10% decline from a recent high, investors may be getting worried. That's normal.
The start of 2025 has proven to be more challenging for investors compared to the stock market's record-breaking highs of 2024. The Nasdaq Composite index is down approximately 13% from its all-time high, amid renewed jitters regarding the strength of the economy and uncertainty over the effect of trade tariffs being implemented by the Trump administration.
With fears of a trade war and a potential economic recession rising, the Nasdaq Composite has fallen into correction territory, retreating more than 10% from its mid-December high. With this decline, a number of quality stocks have fallen to attractive entry points.
Broad-based market sell-offs are often great times to initiate long-term investing positions. In fact, they can give investors just the nudge they needed to buy stocks that already looked like great values before the market declined.
Tariffs and talk of a recession have been making major headlines this week, and the market is reacting with predictable volatility. The Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC -0.18%), which features a riskier, tech-loaded group of stocks, is in correction territory, 13% off its recent highs as of this writing.
There's nothing particularly magical about a 10% drop in a stock market index. It is just a number, like any other.
Artificial intelligence (AI) stocks have sold off heavily over the past few weeks, with Nvidia (NVDA 1.66%) being one of the hardest-hit stocks, down around 30% from its all-time high. However, I don't think this sell-off is a sign of things to come; instead, it's a buying opportunity for investors with a long-term view.
In times of market turmoil -- like now -- two ideas in particular stand out: the need to own some "safe" stocks, or those that can hold up under pressure, and the opportunity to buy stocks, after declines, for a great price.
Which Warren Buffett quote is most relevant right now? My vote goes to his classic statement, "Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful.
Although Warren Buffett can't predict the future, he almost certainly wasn't surprised by the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC -0.18%) falling into correction territory. In fact, based on the investment decisions he and his team have been making at Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A -0.03%) (BRK.B -0.17%), it seems likely that he was rather expecting something like this to happen at some point.
The Nasdaq-100 index is home to 100 of the largest technology companies listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange. It's coming off a barnstorming two-year run, returning 53.8% during 2023 and a further 24.8% in 2024, but it's currently approaching correction territory with a drop of 9% from its record high.
Warren Buffett has often endorsed a contrarian investment strategy. "Tumbling markets can be helpful to the true investor if he has cash available when prices get far out of line with values.