Coin Press - S&P 500 and Nasdaq Set Single-Day Market Cap Loss Records

U.S. equity markets experienced historic volatility on Thursday, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq recording their largest-ever single-day drops in market capitalization. The sell-off was driven by investor anxiety over potential regulatory hurdles for data centers following the Democratic Party's sweep of the midterm elections.

Companies within the S&P 500 index shed $2.9 trillion in market value, while firms on the Nasdaq composite lost $2.5 trillion. These figures represent new records for single-day declines in total market capitalization for both indices.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted 1,833 points, a decline of 3.44%, effectively erasing its gains from the post-election rally. Industry leaders have expressed concern that the newly constituted Congress will slow the pace of infrastructure projects, potentially reducing revenue streams for top artificial intelligence laboratories.

The "Magnificent Seven" technology stocks—Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Tesla—lost a combined $1.04 trillion on Thursday. Nvidia, led by CEO Jensen Huang, saw its market value drop by $374 billion. Tesla and Microsoft lost $161 billion and $117 billion, respectively.

Other major tech firms also faced significant valuation declines. Apple, Meta, Amazon, and Alphabet saw their market values fall by approximately $59 billion, $58 billion, $55 billion, and $42 billion, respectively.

Broader semiconductor and infrastructure sectors were also heavily impacted. Broadcom and Nvidia shares fell 10% and 9%, respectively. Qualcomm slumped 9% after issuing a weak forecast due to rising costs, despite its earnings beating Wall Street estimates. Software giant Oracle fell 7%.

The iShares Semiconductor ETF, a leading fund for AI chips, dropped more than 12%, marking its worst day since March 2020 during the pandemic.

"Neocloud" firms, which purchase AI computing power and lease it to other companies, also saw sharp declines. CoreWeave and Nebius plunged 10% and 15%, respectively. Data-center operators Iren and Applied Digital fell 17% and nearly 15%, while equipment maker GE Vernova dropped nearly 7.5%.

This is a developing story.

J.Bondarev--CPN