What happened
Shares of Appian (APPN 3.04%) fell today on seemingly no company-related news. The stock is likely following the broader market's slide this morning as the U.S. continues to grapple with rising COVID-19 cases.
The tech stock was down by as much as 10.5% this morning and had tumbled 9.2% as of 11:18 a.m. EST.
So what
The S&P 500 was down more than 1% this morning as investors continued to process information about rising coronavirus cases and a slow rollout of vaccines. Appian investors have been mostly optimistic about the low-code app-creating company over the past year, but they could be concerned that a potentially longer-than-expected vaccine rollout could hurt the overall economy.
Additionally, The Washington Post reported on Sunday that during a phone call on Saturday, President Trump put pressure on Georgia's secretary of state to "find" votes for him. Lingering uncertainty surrounding the U.S. presidential election may be taking away some of Appian investors' positive sentiment toward stocks in general.
Despite today's share price slide, Appian's stock is still up 287% over the past 12 months.
Now what
The stock has surged over the past year as investors have focused their attention on technology companies that benefit during lockdowns and social distancing. But with the massive share price gains that Appian has experienced, it's not all that surprising that the stock could also experience some large, temporary dives.
Even though Appian's price slide today doesn't appear to be coming from any company-specific news, investors should know that any potential slowdown of the U.S. economy's recovery could put more pressure on the stock market in general.