Nasdaq Falls About 4.5% Midday as Chip Stocks Sink; SOX Drops About 10% After Post-Election Rally

U.S. stocks sold off sharply on Thursday, Nov. 5, 2026, as semiconductor and artificial-intelligence-linked shares led a broad decline that erased much of Wednesday's post-election rally, leaving the Nasdaq Composite on track for correction territory.

Indexes reverse Wednesday's gains

As of about 12:08 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was at about 52,023, down about 2.5%, the S&P 500 was near 7,433, down about 3.3%, and the Nasdaq Composite was near 24,572, down about 4.5%, according to Yahoo Finance data. The PHLX Semiconductor Index was about 10% lower near 9,245.

Yahoo Finance's live market blog said the Nasdaq had plunged as much as about 5% earlier and that the selloff put the index on track to close in a correction, typically defined as a decline of at least 10% from a recent high. The same report said the Dow tumbled more than 1,200 points at one stage and that the semiconductor gauge dived about 11% as Nvidia, Micron and other chip names sank.

Investopedia noted that major indexes soared Wednesday after Democrats' midterm victory, with the Dow jumping nearly 1,600 points, before Thursday's session quickly faded that glow. Investopedia also said the Dow entered the day about 1.9% below its early-August closing record near 54,349 and the S&P 500 about 1.7% below its Oct. 6 closing record near 7,819, while the Nasdaq remained more than 7% below its Oct. 6 high.

Chip and AI names lead the decline

As of about 12:08 p.m. ET, Nvidia was near $185, down about 7.4%, Advanced Micro Devices near $415, down about 15%, Qualcomm near $152, down about 12%, Micron near $688, down about 13%, Broadcom near $301, down about 7.6%, and Tesla near $344, down about 11%, according to Yahoo Finance data.

NBC News reported that the Nasdaq 100 dropped as much as 6.2% before trading about 4.5% lower late morning, and that the broader Nasdaq Composite entered correction territory. The outlet said the selloff compounded recent declines and raised questions about the durability of the AI investment boom. NBC News also said Qualcomm and Arm Holdings posted results Wednesday night that investors viewed as mixed, and that memory and chip firms including SanDisk, Western Digital, AMD, Seagate and Micron were among the S&P 500's biggest losers, plunging around 15%.

Investopedia said Qualcomm was down about 12% despite a strong quarterly report because of a weak outlook tied to a shortage of memory components for smartphones, and that the Roundhill Memory ETF was down about 12%. It also cited concerns that the pace of AI development could slow with Democrats holding congressional majorities and winning key governorships. NBC News said numerous Democratic winners have pledged to slow or halt construction of AI data centers, with Texas, Ohio, Michigan and Georgia of particular concern as large data-center markets.

Ed Yardeni, president of Yardeni Research, told NBC News the session was "the cold shower that I anticipated might occur after a blue-wave situation," and said he viewed the move as an AI bubble "losing some air very, very rapidly" rather than bursting. NBC News said Tesla and SpaceX each slid nearly 10% amid scrutiny concerns after the midterm results, and that Nvidia's roughly 7% drop was its largest one-day decline since April 2025.

Labor, earnings and other markets

Yahoo Finance's live blog said a Challenger, Gray & Christmas report showed October layoff plans fell to the lowest level since 2023 as companies focused on retaining employees ahead of Friday's employment report. On the earnings calendar, Duke Energy, Airbnb and Lumentum were among companies set to report. Investopedia said analysts expected Airbnb revenue near $4.75 billion and that Airbnb shares were down about 4% ahead of results, while Cloudflare was off nearly 10%.

Oil prices rose as investors weighed Middle East risks, with Brent near $97 and WTI near $90 in Yahoo Finance's midday summary. The 10-year Treasury yield was about 4.835% as of about 12:08 p.m. ET, down from about 4.894%. Investopedia put bitcoin near $76,700 in its morning update, down from Wednesday's high above $81,000.

Thursday's drop followed a session in which investors had celebrated the removal of election uncertainty. By midday, the market focus had shifted to earnings quality in semiconductors, the path of AI capital spending, and how a Democratic Congress might affect data-center permitting and technology regulation, even as bond yields eased and energy prices rebounded from Wednesday's plunge.

Sources: Yahoo Finance live blog, Nov. 5, 2026; Investopedia, Nov. 5, 2026; NBC News, Nov. 5, 2026; Yahoo Finance market data as of about 12:08 p.m. ET.