“The need to crowd into non-economically sensitive stocks is a little less severe when youve got a more rosy outlook on the economic prospects.”
In November, the S&P/ASX 200 Index rose 10 per cent, recording its best month since it was founded, while the S&P/ASX All Technology Index climbed just 6.1 per cent, not even bettering its October performance.
In December, the S&P/ASX 200 Index is up 2.5 per cent, while the All Tech Index is up just 0.6 per cent.
“I dont think anyone’s panicking out of tech yet but the question is whether there’s something transformational happening here?” said Mr Allingham.
“The leading indicators look bullish for global economic growth and there’s a lot of evidence there’s something more material here, which could go well into next year.”
Appen warned on Thursday its fourth quarter earnings had failed to pick up as they traditionally do and downgraded its full year underlying EBITDA guidance to between $106 million and $109 million, from between $125 million and $130 million previously.
“COVID has clearly disrupted and reshaped the priorities and activities of our customers, especially in California, the home of our biggest customers, where pandemic lockdowns have recently intensified,” the company said.
“It has also impacted our face-to-face sales and customer engagement practices.”
Analysts noted the downgrade was unusual, given its largest customers had all reported very strong quarterly results.
“Facebook, Microsoft, Google, Amazon all beat consensus advertising revenue estimates in their latest quarterlies,” said RBC Capital Markets analyst Garry Sherriff.
“Core customers are US technology players who represent 80 per cent of Appen’s revenues and have seen a re-acceleration in their search and advertising revenues in recent quarterly results. [It] begs the question is it customer behaviour changing or also competitive pressures?”
Appen’s shares plummeted 12.4 per cent to $26.20 on Thursday to be the worst performer inside the benchmark.
There’s also concern the growth of US tech firms could be capped after Facebook became the second American technology giant in as many months to have a monopoly case brought against it. 
A lawsuit filed by the Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general led by New York is seeking to unwind Facebook’s acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp, alleging they were intended to eliminate emerging competition against the company.
While Facebook’s shares fell 1.9 per cent to $US277.92 on the news, investors are sceptical the FTC will be able to make a substantial case, particularly as it comes off the back of a stinging loss in a monopoly case brought against Qualcomm.
“The easy part is alleging it but the hardest part is proving it in court. People forget the FTC actually approved these acquisitions in the first place,” said Swell Asset Management chief investment officer Lachlan Hughes.
“The fastest-growing app is TikTok, the most popular app for video is YouTube, the fastest growing ads platform is Amazon, the largest ads platform is Google and for every dollar spent on advertising in the US, Facebook gets less than 10¢ of that so I dont think competition is being stifled.”