Colorado’s public companies shed more than $17 billion in market value on Friday as investors dumped riskier assets over concerns that interest rates could move much higher in the future.
What most people might consider good news — the creation of 172,000 jobs in May from a U.S. economy that was more robust than expected — was treated by Wall Street as a horrible turn of events.
So horrible that it justified wiping out $2.3 trillion in stock equity.
The broad selloff on Friday was the stock market’s worst showing since October, led by big declines in technology, especially semiconductors, A.I. and social media.
Granted, valuations were beyond stretched and priced for perfection in the tech sector, including an assumption of lower capital costs in the years ahead.
The realization that might not happen sent investors running for the hills.
Colorado’s hardest hit company was Ascent Solar Technologies, which lost 17.5% in value. The solar research firm has a very small market capitalization, and its shares are highly volatile.
More informative is the $1 billion hit that Riot Platforms, based in Castle Rock, took. It is an industry leader in Bitcoin mining and digital infrastructure for crypto firms. Its shares were down 10.2%.
It followed the downward move in Bitcoin, which has lost about 15% of its value this week and dropped below the psychologically important $60,000 mark on Friday for the first time since late 2024.
Bitcoin, the world’s leading cryptocurrency, managed to recover to $61,000 at the close on Friday. It is down by more than half from its all-time peak of $126,000 reached last October.
Although the biggest losses were centered on tech companies like Nvidia, which lost $150 billion in market value, energy and mining companies didn’t provide a haven.
Shares of Denver-based Liberty Energy, which provides oilfield services, were down 9.85% in value, even with concerns mounting that the conflict with Iran could turn hot again.
Gold historically represents an asset that can serve as a store of value when inflation and currency devaluations are threatening. Despite that rising uncertainty, gold mining companies took it on the chin on Friday.
Shares of Denver-based Newmont Corp., the world’s largest gold mining firm, dropped nearly 8% in value, shaving off $9.2 billion in value.
Newmont alone accounted for more than half the lost value among Colorado stocks on Friday, according to a Denver Post analysis.
Other mining and royalty companies with big losses included SSR Mining, Vista Gold, Royal Gold and Solitario Resources.
A few consumer-facing companies, led by food providers, managed to eke out some of the largest gains on an otherwise rough day.
Natural Grocers, Pilgrim’s Pride and The Simply Good Foods Co. managed gains ranging from 3.4% to 2.1%.
The Liberty family of companies, which are hedged from higher interest rates because of their strong cash flows, stayed in the green.
Frontier Group Holdings Inc., parent of Frontier Airlines, also defied the odds with a 1% gain.
One explanation is that consumers might be drawn more to ultra-low-cost carriers to save money in a world of rising inflation.
But then again, if they are fully employed and wages are rising, the odd they can keep the 70% of the economy they represent chugging along will improve.
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