"AI Bloodbath": Nasdaq 100 Drops 6%, Fear Index Posts Its Sharpest Rise in 8 Years

All three major U.S. stock indices had their worst day since April 2025 on Thursday, November 5. The Nasdaq Composite Index plummeted 5.5%, entering correction territory: it fell more than 10% from its most recent record high. The Nasdaq 100 plunged 6.4%. The broad-market S&P 500 index lost 4.4%, while the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 3.4%.

"A bloody AI bloodbath": that's how *Barron's* described what happened in the market. The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX), known as “Wall Street’s fear gauge,” peaked at 28.36 points during the day, surging nearly 71%. It hit a seven-month high, and the one-day percentage gain was the largest since February 2018, according to Seeking Alpha.

Among the 11 sectors in the S&P 500, information technology (-7.3%) was hit the hardest, but overall the sell-off was broad-based: all 11 sectors ended the day in the red, according to MarketWatch. Investors appear to be concerned that the Democratic majority in Congress, secured in the midterm elections, could slow down the massive investments in artificial intelligence that have fueled the stock market’s growth this year, the publication writes.

On Thursday, shares of chipmakers plummeted. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index plunged 12.25%. Micron shares lost 17.5% of their value, while SanDisk shares fell 22.3%. Shares of Nvidia, a leading manufacturer of AI processors, fell 9.3%; they are now trading 2.6% lower than they were at the start of 2026. The other companies in the “Magnificent Seven” also have little to boast about: for example, Apple fell 1.5%, Microsoft 3.6%, and Alphabet 2.2%. Tesla plummeted 10.8%, and SpaceX fell 9%: combined, the two companies led by Elon Musk lost $450 billion in market capitalization in two days, MarketWatch reported, citing data from Dow Jones Market Data. “Call it the ‘Musk sell-off,’” the publication quips.

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This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor