This isn't a tech selloff. It's a risk selloff.

By Vlad from Bastion on July 18, 2026

Plot the last month's return against beta across the US mega caps and the pattern is obvious: the higher a stock's beta, the harder it fell. The trend line slopes straight down (R² 0.275 on 100 names).

The worst hit are the highest-beta names: $MRVL -40%, $SNDK and $WDC near -38%, $INTC -30%, $MU -25%. Meanwhile the low-beta defensives went the other way: $ABBV, $WELL, $ABT, $BMY, $MRK and $JNJ all posted double-digit gains sitting on the left.

Semis just happen to carry the highest betas, so they lead the list. But this isn't the market rejecting chips or AI. It's the market shedding risk, and beta is getting repriced across the board.