Tech stocks drop as CEOs face scrutiny

NEW YORK — Technology companies dropped Wednesday as Facebook and Twitter executives testified before Congress. Consumer-focused companies like Amazon and Netflix also slumped.

Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey told a Senate panel they are working to stop manipulation of their services by foreign countries. Legislators criticized Alphabet, Google’s parent company, for refusing to send its CEO to the hearing.

In a separate hearing, House Republicans accused Twitter of bias against conservatives, a charge not backed up by evidence.

The U.S. and Canada resumed negotiations to try to keep Canada in an updated North American trade pact that also includes Mexico. Canada’s trade envoy sounded positive after three hours of talks, and investors are confident Canada will be included in the final deal.

Technology companies such as Microsoft and consumer-focused companies, most notably Amazon, have done far better than the broader stock market for years, and throughout that time they have quickly recovered from nearly every brief decline.

But Julian Emanuel, chief equity and derivative strategist for BTIG, said Wednesday’s hearing came at a time when investors have more concerns about those stocks than in recent years: Facebook, Twitter and Netflix all plunged about 20 percent in July after they reported weak user growth, and they’re yet to recover.

“The reflex reaction to buy these names on every dip, which has been the case the last few years, has broken,” he said. “That kind of damage takes a bit of time to heal itself.”