Stocks plunged on Thursday as concerns about a slowdown in artificial intelligence development sent shockwaves through the market. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite dropped more than 5%, officially entering correction territory alongside the small-cap Russell 2000 index. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed over 1,800 points, or more than 3%, while the S&P 500 fell over 4%. These declines erased the gains from Wednesday's postelection rally and more.
The so-called Magnificent Seven stocks lost over $1 trillion in market value, with Nvidia leading the losses at more than $440 billion. Nvidia's stock fell over 9%, turning negative for the year with a year-to-date decline of 2.6%. The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) surged 11.57 points, marking its biggest point gain since April 4, 2025.
On the New York Stock Exchange, declining stocks outpaced advancing ones by a ratio of almost 6 to 1, while the Nasdaq saw a ratio of nearly 5 to 1. All 11 S&P 500 sectors finished in the red, with information technology leading the downturn at 7.30%. The Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLK) dropped 8.04%, its worst performance since March 16, 2020.
Widespread losses were evident across major indices. In the S&P 500, 34.6% of stocks were 20% or more below their 52-week highs, including names like SanDisk, Intel, and Nvidia. In the Nasdaq-100, 58.4% of stocks were more than 20% off their 52-week highs, including Rocket Lab and CoreWeave.