Overview
- US markets plunged on Thursday as investors sold technology and semiconductor names, with the Nasdaq down about 5.5%, the S&P 500 down about 4.35% and the Dow falling roughly 3.44%.
- Traders blamed a reassessment of political risk after the Democratic victories because several new Democrats campaigned to curb or pause data‑centre builds in their districts, raising the prospect of tighter rules on AI infrastructure.
- The rout hit chipmakers and AI suppliers hard, with big swings in Broadcom, Micron, AMD, Intel, Nvidia and major European equipment suppliers as investors priced the risk that future data‑centre capital spending could slow.
- Investors shifted toward traditional and defensive sectors and government bonds, a move that left many European markets relatively steady but later dragged Asian bourses such as Seoul and Tokyo lower as the panic spread.
- Global cross‑currents made the sell‑off more complex: oil rebounded toward the high‑$90s per barrel, the Bank of England raised its policy rate to 4%, and mixed company results produced idiosyncratic winners and losers that could reshape near‑term sector leadership.