Stocks Tank Amid Tech Sell-Off, Reversing Post-Election Rally

A violent selloff of chip and AI stocks sent markets plunging Thursday, erasing all the gains of yesterday’s post-election rally and then some by close.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1,800 points, or about 3.4%. The S&P 500 was down 4%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq took the worst hit, falling 5.2%. Chip makers Nvidia and Micro plunged with other big tech stocks following them down in one of the worst sessions for the sector in years.

Snap fell 13% after its earnings report Wednesday. Shares of AMC Entertainment and Imax, which both posted strong quarters between yesterday and this morning, are down, respectively, 12% and 6%. Apple, Meta, Amazon, Alphabet, Spotify and are lower. Oracle fell nearly 7%.

Media was generally a sea of red with a few exceptions. Netflix, Fox and Skydance fell 2%. Disney and Lionsgate dipped 1%. The latter turned higher in late trading. It reported earnings after the close.

Heavy spending on AI has been spooking investors for the better part of a year and they’ve had cycles of punishing tech stocks for investments that may not have a clear payoff in terms of timing and profits.

The market rose Tuesday as a clear Democratic sweep of the House and Senate removed a cloud of uncertainty around the midterm elections. By today, regulatory and other business jitters were back roiling stocks. Oil prices had fallen on hopes that the Iran war – a big reason for the Dems’ surge – might be brought to a close. President Donald Trump has continued to say the conflict will be over when he says so and oil prices rose again today as hopes for a deal receded.