US stocks close Nov 5: Chip sell-off sends Nasdaq down 5.52% into a correction

US stocks fell hard on Thursday, Nov 5 (ET), as investors sold AI chip and data-center stocks together. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 5.52% to 24,315.00, more than 10% below its Oct. 6 record close, which puts it in a correction. The S&P 500 lost 4.36% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average 3.44%. The selling followed the Democrats' wide midterm win, which raised fears that data-center construction will slow, and weak results from Qualcomm and Arm the night before.

Key takeaways

• The Nasdaq fell 1,421.52 points (5.52%), its worst day since April 2025. The S&P 500's 4.36% drop was also its largest since April 2025.
• The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) lost 12.3%, its worst day since March 2020.
• Nvidia closed down 9.26% at $181.60 and was the biggest drag on the Dow. Micron and AMD each fell more than 17%.
• Tesla dropped 10.77% as the Democrats' win in the Texas governor's race added to worries about data-center construction in the state and regulation of Musk-linked companies.
• AppLovin went the other way, rising more than 25% after reporting 55% revenue growth for the third quarter.

Index closes

The S&P 500 shed about $2.8 trillion in market value and the Nasdaq-100 about $2.3 trillion. On Wednesday the Dow had jumped 1,569.40 points (about 3%) to 53,356.12, and Thursday erased that gain. The S&P 500 is still up 7.4% for the year and the Nasdaq 4.6%.

Why stocks fell: the midterms and data-center fears

The trigger was Tuesday's midterm election. Democrats won the House, the Senate and governor's races by a wider margin than markets expected, and many winners had pledged to slow or halt AI data-center construction. According to Fortune, 41 ballot measures sought to slow data-center buildouts, and most passed, especially in Ohio.

Texas drew the most attention. Democrat Gina Hinojosa, who campaigned on an immediate data-center moratorium, beat Gov. Greg Abbott. Abbott had already paused new data-center permits in September pending a grid audit, so Fortune noted that the freeze could hold without a new law. Fortune cited a Wells Fargo estimate that about 27% of planned US data-center gigawatts are in Texas.

eToro analyst Jakub Rochlitz said rising electricity prices had turned data-center construction into a political issue, and that the market now expects AI infrastructure to grow more slowly and cost more, which lowers growth expectations across the supply chain. Ed Yardeni, president of Yardeni Research, said, "I don't think this is an AI bubble bursting," but called it "an AI bubble losing some air very, very rapidly."

Positioning added to the pressure. Yahoo Finance reported that Vanda Research counted about $358 million in net selling of US stocks by retail investors, the most since March 2020. Nomura's Charlie McElligott described hedge funds locking in the year's biggest winners before year-end as "shooting the generals."

Sectors: tech was the weakest

Information technology fell the most. CNBC put the sector down 6.6% in the afternoon, with consumer discretionary down 4.1% and industrials down 4.0%. Investrade's tally showed consumer staples (+1.20%), energy (+0.96%) and utilities (+0.25%) higher in the morning, but all 11 sectors were in the red during the final hour. Reports disagree on which sector finished best.

Chip and memory stocks took the heaviest losses. According to NBC News, SanDisk fell 22%, Western Digital 17% and Seagate 16%. Data-center power and equipment names such as GE Vernova and Constellation Energy fell with them, and AI cloud stocks including CoreWeave, Nebius and IREN dropped by around 10% or more. Large cloud providers fell less than the market: Alphabet lost 2.20% and Amazon 2.19%.

Big movers

All of the stocks below are S&P 500 members and moved 5% or more at the regular-session close.

Stock	Move	Note
MMicronMU	-17.46%	Chip selling; report of a halted Taiwan fab
AAMDAMD	-17.26%	Chip and AI selling
TTeslaTSLA	-10.77%	Regulatory worries after the midterms
ABroadcomAVGO	-10.43%	Chip selling
IIntelINTC	down more than 10%	Chip selling
QQualcommQCOM	-9.49%	Current-quarter profit outlook below estimates
NNvidiaNVDA	-9.26%	Chip selling; largest drag on the Dow
AAppLovinAPP	up more than 25%	Q3 results and Q4 outlook beat estimates

Nvidia: its largest drop since April 2025

Nvidia closed down $18.53 (9.26%) at $181.60. NBC News said it was the stock's largest one-day decline since April 2025 and that shares are down 15% over the past three months. CNBC calculated that about $374 billion of market value disappeared in the session. Investrade, citing a Bloomberg report, said news that about 600,000 advanced AI chips are sitting in Hong Kong awaiting Chinese import approval also weighed on the stock.

On the chart, the $181.60 close is the lowest since July and about 24% below the Oct. 6 high of $239.24. The stock was already below its 20-day and 60-day moving averages on Nov. 4, and Thursday's volume was about 2.9 times the average of the previous 20 sessions.

Micron: chip selling plus a Taiwan fab report

Micron Technology closed down 17.46% at $656.39. According to Investing.com, Bloomberg reported that Micron has all but halted construction of its Fab 11E memory plant in Taoyuan, Taiwan, because of a long labor dispute with the local union over profit-sharing terms. The plant was budgeted at $3 billion to $4.5 billion and scheduled to come online in 2028, and Taiwan accounts for about 60% of Micron's conventional DRAM output. The same article noted that China's CXMT announced progress on a next-generation DRAM architecture. An ETF that tracks DRAM makers fell almost 18%.

The $656.39 close is the lowest since May 7. It sits about 40% below the Oct. 1 high of $1,097.39 and roughly 27% below the 20-day moving average, near $896.

AMD: down more than 17%

Advanced Micro Devices fell 17.26%. No company-specific news was reported; outlets tied the drop to the broad selling in chip and AI stocks.

The $404.40 close is about 38% below the Oct. 6 high of $649.42 and the lowest since early May. The gap to the 20-day and 60-day moving averages, both near $535, widened sharply, on volume about three times the 20-session average.

Tesla: a second day of losses after the midterms

Tesla closed down $41.50 (10.77%) at $343.69. CNBC said the stock fell for a second straight session amid the tech sell-off and doubts about AI spending, and that the Democratic win in Texas raised concerns about a slower AI buildout in the state. NBC News said companies run by Elon Musk, who backed Republican candidates, could face tighter regulation and investigations, and that Tesla and SpaceX have lost more than $400 billion in combined market value since Tuesday.

Tesla was still above its 20-day and 60-day moving averages on Nov. 4 and fell below both on Thursday. The close is about 16% below the Oct. 27 high of $407.46 but above the July 29 low of $298.32.

Qualcomm and Arm: results that disappointed

Qualcomm fell 9.49%. Its third-quarter profit slightly beat estimates, but CNBC reported that its current-quarter EPS guidance of $2.15 to $2.35 compared with a FactSet estimate of $2.26. Investing.com noted that handset chip revenue fell 26%. Arm Holdings, which is not in the S&P 500, dropped 13% after its report, with royalty revenue below forecasts.

AppLovin: up after third-quarter results

AppLovin reported third-quarter results after the close on Nov. 4. According to the company, revenue rose 55% from a year earlier to $2,184.8 million, net income rose 72% to $1,438.9 million, and diluted EPS was $4.30. It guided fourth-quarter revenue to $2,365 million to $2,395 million and added $3.2 billion to its buyback authorization, bringing the total to $3.6 billion. The stock rose more than 25% in Thursday's regular session.

Rates, oil and volatility

The 10-year Treasury yield fell 5.7 basis points to 4.837%. The VIX touched 28.09 intraday, its highest since March 31. WTI crude rose 2.72% to $90.52 a barrel after falling more than 8% the day before; Yahoo Finance said uncertainty over a US deal with Iran to end the Middle East war lifted prices. Bitcoin dropped more than 5%, into the $75,000s.

Economic data were mostly firm. Initial jobless claims for the week ended Oct. 31 came in at 189,000, below the 197,000 estimate. Third-quarter productivity rose 3.6%, above the 2.9% forecast, and unit labor costs fell 0.7%. Challenger, Gray & Christmas counted 43,994 announced job cuts in October, 71% fewer than a year earlier.

Rate expectations shifted. According to CME FedWatch, the probability of a quarter-point Federal Reserve hike at the December meeting fell to 70.1% from 82.7% on Wednesday. The Bank of England raised its policy rate to 4% from 3.75%, its first increase since 2023, on an 8-1 vote.

Global markets and after-hours news

Asian markets, which trade before New York, had already sold off. South Korea's KOSPI fell 5.28%, Taiwan 3.2% and Japan's Nikkei 225 1.79%. The KOSPI session is covered in our KOSPI close for Nov 5.

Earnings kept coming after the bell. According to CNBC, Airbnb rose 11% after hours on third-quarter EPS of $3.16 against a $2.85 consensus, and Cloudflare gained 14% on current-quarter guidance above estimates. DraftKings fell 22% after a wider-than-expected third-quarter loss, and Atlassian dropped more than 15% on its outlook for data-center revenue. After-hours moves can change in Friday's regular session.

For the start of the week, see our US market close for Nov 3.

What to watch next

• Friday, Nov 6, 8:30 a.m. ET: October jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
• Dec 8 and 9: Federal Open Market Committee meeting, with the rate decision on Dec 9.

FAQ

How much did US stocks fall on Nov 5, 2026?

The Nasdaq Composite fell 5.52% to 24,315.00, the S&P 500 fell 4.36% to 7,353.73 and the Dow fell 3.44% to 51,523.06. The Russell 2000 lost 4.45%. For both the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 it was the largest one-day drop since April 2025.

What does it mean that the Nasdaq is in a correction?

A correction means an index has fallen at least 10% from a recent high. The Nasdaq's Nov 5 close was more than 10% below its record close on Oct. 6, which meets that definition.

Why did chip stocks fall so much?

The Democrats' wide midterm win raised fears that data-center construction will slow, and Qualcomm and Arm reported disappointing results the night before. Micron also faced a report that construction of a Taiwan fab had been halted. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index fell 12.3%, its worst day since March 2020.

Did any stocks rise on Nov 5?

Yes. AppLovin rose more than 25% after reporting 55% revenue growth and a fourth-quarter outlook above estimates. After the close, Airbnb and Cloudflare rose 11% and 14% in after-hours trading on their results.

Sources

• Fox Business: Nasdaq tumbles 5%, Dow plunges more than 1,800 points
• AP via KRMG: How major US stock indexes fared Thursday 11/5/2026
• NBC News: Stocks plunge as election outcome and AI worries crush tech shares
• Fortune: Wall Street's post-midterm rally lasted one day as chip stocks plunged
• CNBC: Stock market news for Nov. 5, 2026
• CNBC: Stocks making the biggest moves midday
• CNBC: Stocks making the biggest moves after hours
• Yahoo Finance: Dow plunges 1,800 points, Nasdaq enters correction
• Yahoo Finance (Zacks): Stock Market News for Nov 5, 2026
• Stock Titan: The Stock Market Today, November 5, 2026
• Investing.com: Why is Micron Technology stock plunging today?
• Investrade: Market Review, November 5, 2026
• AppLovin IR: Third Quarter 2026 Financial Results
• Wikipedia: List of S&P 500 companies