Wednesday's post-election relief rally lasted exactly one session. By midday Thursday the Nasdaq Composite had fallen more than 10% below its record closing high of 27,599.89, set on October 6, confirming a correction — the index's second of 2026. The reversal erased the entire 1.4% gain the Nasdaq had posted a day earlier on the Democratic sweep of both chambers of Congress.
The damage deepened through the afternoon. StockTitan, citing CNBC data, logged the Nasdaq down 3.1% at 10:00 a.m. ET, 3.9% by 11:49 a.m., and 5.1% by 1:57 p.m. The S&P 500 tracked the same path, from 1.7% down at the open to roughly 4% by mid-afternoon — a decline that would rank as its worst session since April 2025. The Dow, which had surged 1,569.40 points on Wednesday to close at 53,356.12, gave back more than 1,600 points. The Russell 2000 slipped into correction territory alongside the Nasdaq.
Chips Took the Worst of It
Semiconductors drove the move, and the year-to-date math is what made it notable. Nvidia traded at $182.58 around 2:06 p.m. ET, down 8.8% on the session and below its December 31, 2025 close of $186.50 — wiping out the full 2026 advance in a single day and leaving the stock 23.7% under its October 6 high of $239.24.
AMD fell 15.5%, Micron 15.3% and Broadcom 9.0%. Both AMD and Micron remain sharply higher for the year, up 92.7% and 136.0% respectively, but each now sits well off its 2026 peak — AMD 36.4% below, Micron 44.5% below. Broadcom has slid 38.5% from its high and turned negative for the year. Oracle also fell with the group. The Cboe Volatility Index hit 28.09 at 1:57 p.m. ET, its highest reading since March 31.
The Election Flipped the AI Narrative
Wednesday's rally was built on the idea that resolved political uncertainty was good for risk assets. Thursday's selling reflected a second reading of the same result: several newly elected officials campaigned in data-center states on slowing the buildout.
"Investors appear to be recognizing that some newly elected members of Congress and governors are looking to slow the pace of AI infrastructure development," said Melissa Brown, global head of investment decision research at SimCorp.
Sameer Samana, senior global market strategist at Wells Fargo Investment Institute, framed it as a handoff problem. "When you go from full unified control under one party to full unified control under another party that can also represent quite a bit of uncertainty, discontinuity and abrupt change to policy," he said.
Keith Buchanan, senior portfolio manager at Globalt Investments, pointed to earnings as the proximate trigger: "Yesterday was a relief rally, and today's more about investors being disappointed in Qualcomm earnings and the continuation of the rotation trade away from AI." Qualcomm beat on the quarter it reported Wednesday — $2.17 adjusted per share on $10.32 billion in revenue — but guided to $2.15–$2.35 and $10.4–$11.2 billion for the current period, bracketing consensus of $2.27 and $10.48 billion rather than clearing it.
Keith Lerner, chief investment officer at Truist Wealth, noted the spillover: "Unlike on Wednesday, the size of the tech selloff is now feeding into the broader market."
Where the Money Went
Treasuries and metals absorbed the flows. The 10-year yield pulled back toward its lowest level in nearly two months as investors exited tech. Gold reached $4,124 and silver $52.55, holding Wednesday's nearly 3% advance.
Rate expectations moved too. The CME FedWatch tool put the odds of a December rate increase at 70.1% as of 1:57 p.m. ET Thursday, down from 82.7% on Wednesday. Friday's October jobs report is the next test.
Sources: Reuters via GV Wire; StockTitan live market coverage, November 5, 2026; CNBC market data as cited by StockTitan; Quartz; Axios; Yahoo Finance; CME FedWatch via StockTitan; GoldSilver.com. All intraday figures are snapshots at the times noted and are not closing prices.