(Jeff Swensen / Stringer / Getty Images)

Shares of technology companies were down sharply across the board on Thursday as the Nasdaq Composite fell 72 points, or about 1.36%.

Some of the big losers at closing include:

• Facebook (down 2.8%)

• Google (down 1.34%)

• Oracle (down 3.71%)

• Salesforce (down 4.92%)

• Qualcomm (down 5.83%)

• Alibaba (down 4.17%)

It wasn't immediately clear what's causing the sudden pessimism in the tech sector. The broader market was in better shape at the close of trading on Thursday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up about 68 points.

Since Donald Trump was elected president last month, tech stocks have not benefitted from the rally that has boosted the rest of the market. Much of Trump's rhetoric during the campaign, including curbing immigration, scrapping free trade agreements and impossing tariffs on Chinese goods, would hurt tech companies.

Apple, for whatever reason, appears to be faring better than its tech counterparts on Thursday, with the stock down less than 1%.

NOW WATCH: Here’s what happens when you block someone on your iPhone

More From Business Insider

• Facebook: 'We do not think of ourselves as editors' but we may label fake news
  

• Classic games like 'Pac-Man' and 'Space Invaders' are coming to Facebook
  

• Morgan Stanley thinks the Pixel smartphone will generate Google almost $4 billion in revenue next year