Nasdaq confirms correction as Wall Street plunges
Wall Street has confirmed what traders feared all day: the Nasdaq Composite closed in correction territory on Thursday, falling more than 10 per cent below its record high as a brutal sell-off in chip and artificial-intelligence stocks swept the market.
The Nasdaq Composite dropped 5.52 per cent to close at 24,315.00. That leaves the index 11.9 per cent below its record closing high of 27,599.89, set on 6 October — past the 10 per cent fall that defines a correction. The Nasdaq 100 fell further, down 6.36 per cent to 26,629.81, and now sits 14.7 per cent below its own October record.
A broad reversal
The S&P 500 fell 4.36 per cent to 7,353.73, its worst single day since April 2025, when President Donald Trump's tariff announcement shook markets worldwide. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 1,833.06 points, or 3.44 per cent, to close at 51,523.06 — wiping out Wednesday's 1,569-point rally in a single session.
The damage was concentrated where the rally had been hottest. The Philadelphia Semiconductor index plunged 12.25 per cent to 9,011.14, its worst fall in years, as investors questioned the vast spending on AI data centres and the returns it will deliver.
What comes next
The sell-off spread far beyond technology, with almost every part of the market under pressure. Traders had hoped Wednesday's post-election rally marked a turning point; Thursday showed how quickly that confidence can evaporate.
Attention now turns to Friday's US employment report, due at 08:30 ET, which will test whether the economy is holding up while markets are falling apart. If selling continues into a second session, the correction could deepen fast — and the question for investors is no longer whether the market has corrected, but how far the correction has left to run. Market moves are not investment advice.
Sources: Associated Press, The closing bell — a brutal sell-off for AI stocks sends Wall Street reeling, 5 November 2026; MarketSpeaker, Nasdaq 100 selloff, VIX, Wall Street, 5 November 2026; Longbridge, Wall Street closing report, 5 November 2026.
