Chip stocks rout Wall Street: Nasdaq closes down 5.52% in correction as semiconductor index sinks 12.25%

US stocks closed sharply lower on Thursday (November 5), led by chipmakers: the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 1,421.52 points, or 5.52 percent, to 24,315.00, its worst day since April 2026 and more than 10 percent below its record closing high of 27,599.89 set on October 6, confirming a correction. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index closed down 12.25 percent at 9,011.14, its second-worst day on record after March 16, 2020 (-15.9 percent). The S&P 500 fell about 3.4 percent, its worst day since the April 2025 tariff sell-off, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1,833 points, or 3.44 percent.

Qualcomm's earnings set off the rout

The sell-off was set off by Qualcomm's earnings. The chipmaker's fiscal fourth-quarter handset chip revenue fell 26 percent year on year to $5.137 billion, below analysts' expectations of $5.25 billion, and its shares fell about 10 percent on Thursday. Micron closed down 17.46 percent at $656.39, AMD fell 17.26 percent to $404.40 and Nvidia dropped 9.26 percent to $181.60, wiping out nearly $450 billion in market value in a single day; Lam Research fell 16.36 percent and Broadcom 10.43 percent. Chip stocks shed roughly $2 trillion in market value in one day, according to reports.

One day wipes out the post-midterm rally

The rout erased most of Wednesday's post-midterm rally in a single day. On Wednesday, the Dow had jumped 3.03% to close at 53,356.12, its best post-midterm showing since 1982, while the Nasdaq gained 1.44% and the S&P 500 rose 1.6%. Market watchers said investors worried that the Democrats' midterm sweep could bring tighter scrutiny of artificial-intelligence data-centre construction, weighing on chip and data-centre shares.

US economic data released the same day was actually firm: initial jobless claims fell to 189,000, a post-pandemic low; third-quarter productivity rose 3.6%, above the expected 2.9%; and unit labour costs fell 0.7%. The strong data failed to stem the slide. CME's FedWatch tool put the odds of a 0.25-percentage-point Federal Reserve rate cut in December at 69%.

(Sources: Reuters, Associated Press, Morningstar, TradingView, November 5, 2026. Percentages are closing figures.)