What happened
Shares of Microsoft(NASDAQ: MSFT) were sliding today, despite an analyst raising his price target for the tech stock and news that the company may be poised to launch a new mobile gaming service.
Investors may have ignored those two bits of news and instead exited the stock as part of a larger pullback on tech stocks today on news that Amazon is cutting more jobs. Microsoft's shares were down by 3.3% at 12:14 p.m. ET.
So what
Evercore ISI analyst Kirk Materne raised his price target for Microsoft's stock from $280 to $295 today, and the Financial Times reported that Microsoft will launch a new mobile gaming app store as early as next year if the company's bid to acquire Activision Blizzard clears regulatory hurdles.
The new mobile gaming platform could emerge if Microsoft successfully closes on its $75 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, which comes as European laws aimed at opening up smartphone platform competition are set to go into effect next year.
But investors appeared to look past some of today's good news and were instead selling Microsoft's stock in response to a broader tech sell-off. The pessimism is likely fueled by Amazon announcing another round of layoffs this morning -- totaling 9,000 employees -- which comes in addition to a previous announcement of 18,000 job cuts.
Now what
Microsoft's share price slide today is yet another example of how jittery tech investors are right now. There have already been more than 100,000 layoffs in the tech industry since the beginning of this year, and investors have generally been pessimistic about tech companies' ability to grow amid rising interest rates, high inflation, and the potential for a recession.
All of this means that Microsoft's stock will likely experience some more share price instability in the near term as investors try to figure out what's happening with the economy and how it could affect Microsoft in the coming quarters.
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John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Chris Neiger has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Activision Blizzard, Amazon.com, and Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
