CNN
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U.S. stocks slumped on Friday, heading for a week in the red despite a year of historic highs.

The Dow Jones lost about 450 points, or 1%, in early afternoon trading, the S&P 500 lost 1.4% and the Nasdaq Composite lost 1.9% after a selloff in Big Tech stocks. Shares of Tesla (TSLA) fell about 4.5%, while Amazon (AMZN), Alphabet (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT) and Nvidia (NVDA) each fell about 2%.

The “Magnificent Seven” group of top-performing tech stocks – Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia and Tesla – have accounted for more than half of the gains so far this year, benefiting from investors’ intense focus on opportunities to play, according to reports S&P Dow Jones Indices the boom in artificial intelligence.

Analysts have long warned that the market’s reliance on a handful of names exposes the stock market to potential problems if the group stumbles.

“If some of these companies fail to overcome the high bar for positive surprises, they too are at risk of collapsing,” said Keith Lerner, chief market strategist at Truist Wealth. “I would prefer a broader market where mega-cap growth stocks are doing well and where other segments are also doing well. So when one area falters, another segment takes over the baton.”

The huge Bitcoin rally towards the end of the year also failed as traders hoped to take profits. The cryptocurrency plunged to around $93,900 on Friday after surpassing $106,000 earlier this month on hopes that President-elect Donald Trump will usher in a crypto-friendly administration when he returns to the White House next month .

Treasury yields rose on Friday, with the 10-year Treasury note topping 4.6%, possibly causing some stocks to stop trading.

Due to the shortened holiday week, trading volume was low, amplifying any moves. Despite the stock market sell-off, there really isn’t any big news that the markets are reacting to: such dramatic market moves have become something of a tradition during Christmas week, as buying and selling can have a dramatic impact on stock indices as most traders in the are vacation.

Low trading volume can also mean high volatility. With remaining traders opting to take some of the recent profits and put them in their pockets, the dynamic changed as people headed for the exit, both literally and figuratively.

Note: Last year, on December 20th, the Dow fell 500 points. FactSet analysts said there was “nothing really new” for markets to react to. On December 15, 2022, the Dow plunged 765 points for no real reason. Some market analysts cited “recession fears” that ultimately proved unfounded. And on December 30, 2019, the Dow fell 200 points. The CNN Business report said the day was “relatively newsless.”

But the mother of all year-end market chaos moments occurred within 10 days to end 2018, when the Dow fell 4,000 points before having one of its best days ever – a 1,086-point rise – and then a roller coaster ride experienced day the next trading day, nearly wiping out all of those gains.

Looking ahead to 2025, stocks are expected to outperform bonds even after two years of strong performance, said Anthony Valeri, investment management director at California Bank & Trust. “Investors should maintain their equity exposure into the new year,” he wrote in a note published Friday. “Stocks are still the best investment to protect against inflation.”

This is a developing story and will be updated.