Google has been at the epicentre of the internet revolution since its IPO in August 2004. Its market value has ballooned in parallel with internet usage, rising from $27.2 billion to a staggering $363 billion today.

Traders seem eager to take any hint of bad news right now to sell off holdings particularly in overvalued technology, biotech and small cap stocks. Poor data from China seemed to be the latest excuse.

Both companies saw their shares hit multi year low’s a couple of weeks ago with Xcite Energy disappointing investors with news that it had failed to tie up a farm out deal for its Bentley North Sea field, driving the price as low as 59p. In the case of GKP it was down to 80p following a statement in their bond offering document that the $250 million bond would be needed…

Last night the Nasdaq Composite fell 48 points, or 1.2%, to 4,080, with a loss of 4.7% since Friday, the largest three-day loss since November 2011. In the UK market, online retailers AO world and ASOS fell heavily as sentiment suddenly faded after last week’s U.S. non-farm payrolls report.

Looking at AIM oil and gas companies with significant, make or break, drilling news in the next few months, Fastnet Oil and Gas (FAST) fits the bill.

Russian and Eastern European focused funds dominate the list of worst performers so far in 2014.

It’s important to understand precisely what the fundamentals of a company really are, prior to investing in stocks.

The SP 500 ended the first quarter of 2014 at 1,872, with a 0.7% gain for the month and showing a 1.3% over the past three months whilst the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended at 16,458, 0.8% higher on the month but down 0.7% over the the first quarter of 2014.

Xcite Energy dropped as low as 59p and Gulf Keystone Petroleum fell to 90p this morning as fear swirls around the bulletin boards.

I originally invested in US focused oil and gas explorer Nighthawk Energy (HAWK) in 2009 with much anticipation given the potential of its Jolly Ranch non conventional oil and gas assets in the United States But a series of delays and broken promises by its management team led by David Bramhill (later of Wessex Exploration) meant I sold in February 2010 at 28p with a losing trade. Today the shares sit at around 9.8p.