American IT giants collectively lost about $1 trillion in market value in the first minutes of trading on Monday, CNBC reports. Experts call August 5 one of the worst days on the stock market in nearly 40 years.

At the opening of trading, Nvidia lost more than $300 billion in market value, though it quickly recovered about half of the losses. Shares of the chip manufacturer fell by 7% after the market opened. The market values of Apple and Amazon sharply dropped by $224 billion and $109 billion, respectively, at the opening of trading. The combined losses of Meta, Microsoft, Alphabet, Tesla, and the seven most valuable tech companies amounted to about $995 billion in the first minutes of trading. As trading progressed, the companies' shares slightly recovered.

As a result, the high-tech Nasdaq index fell by 5.8% in the first minutes after the market opened, and the S&P 500 index, which includes the largest companies, fell by 3.9%. Cryptocurrencies were also affected. Since Sunday, Bitcoin had decreased by 18%—from $60,000 to $49,000—but then rebounded to $54,000. The entire altcoin market is in the red zone.

The world's largest bank, JPMorgan, estimates the probability of a U.S. economic recession at 50%. Before trading started in the U.S., stock prices had already fallen significantly in Tokyo, Taiwan, and Istanbul. For example, Japan's Nikkei 225 index plummeted by 12% on Monday. CNBC calls the current market situation the worst day since "Black Monday" in 1987, when the Dow Jones Industrial Average saw its largest drop in history.

One of the main reasons for this global stock market behavior is the revised forecasts for the unemployment rate in the U.S. It is expected to rise to 4.3%, which will impact the U.S. economy. The stock sell-off was fueled by fears of a U.S. recession, Warren Buffett's decision to sell half of his stake in Apple, and the collapse of Japan's stock market.

Experts believe that inflated expectations from artificial intelligence technologies also pose a threat to the markets. According to a recent analysis by Goldman Sachs, companies are spending too much money on artificial intelligence technologies, which currently offer little benefit.

In a letter to its clients, Elliott Management, one of the world's largest hedge funds, stated that Nvidia, a dominant player in the AI hardware market, is in a "bubble" and the hype around AI is "overrated." Recently, Nvidia's market value exceeded $3 trillion, making it the most valuable company in the world. However, its market capitalization is now less than $2.5 trillion.