Here's what experts think you should do amid stock market plunge

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- On Monday, stock markets around the world tumbled with some like the Japanese Nikkei having their worst day since 1987.

While the losses were broadly based, tech companies were especially hit, including companies like Apple, Amazon, Nvidia, and Meta.

"A lot of these companies, the Magnificent Seven and companies beyond that, they're spending a lot of money on artificial intelligence, but the payoff is a little bit further down the road," said Scott Wren of the Wells Fargo Investment Institute.

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The selloff was caused by a myriad of factors, says economist Julia Pollak.

Pollak says some of those factors include weaker earnings over the past few weeks, the expectation that the Federal Reserve will begin to quickly cut interest rates, as well as a lackluster jobs report on Friday.

"The private sector excluding health care and social assistance added only 33,000 jobs in this last report, and that is well below the 137,000 average between 2015 and 2019," she said.

Despite a rising unemployment rate, Pollak says joblessness remains historically low at close to 4%.

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She thinks despite the panic on Wall Street, the economy will not enter a recession in the near future.

Pollak attributes much of the slowdown to the fact that the economy soared following the pandemic with decades-high GDP and inflation growth.

"As a result, normalization has looked like a pretty steep drop but from unsustainable heights," Pollak said.

Those views were also shared by Brie Mason, a Bay Area-based financial advisor.

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"Don't panic. Stay calm. Investing is long-term," Mason said.

Mason says it's important to remember that stock market fluctuations are cyclical and that overall the market is still up since the start of the year.

For anyone concerned about their own financial well-being, Mason cautions against making any dramatic moves.

"People need to know that there are ups and downs and understanding their risk tolerance," Mason said. "Understanding that their portfolio is diversified and that their investments have goals attached to them that are time-based as well as growth-based is really important."