S&P 500 Drops 3.8% as Trading Halt Nears — SkimNews
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- S&P 500 plunged as much as 3.8% Thursday, erasing Wednesday’s 1.6% rally—the index’s strongest day in three months—after the Democratic Party’s midterm victories; the Dow had gained more than 1,500 points the prior session.
- Trump wrote on Truth Social that the stock market had hit another record high and “Your 401(k)s are through the roof,” less than 24 hours before the plunge.
- New York Stock Exchange rules set a 7% decline, or 7,150.41 points, for the first 15-minute market-wide halt; 13% (6,689.09) triggers another pause and 20% (6,150.89) stops the day. The first two thresholds cease applying at 3:25 p.m. ET, and no halt had been reached at publication.
- Nasdaq Composite fell nearly 5% around 11 a.m. ET, while Nvidia lost more than 6% and the broader semiconductor index plunged nearly 11%.
- Ipek Ozkardeskaya, a senior analyst at Swissquote Bank, said, “We suspect there is going to be some scrutiny on this aggressive AI buildout,” amid pressure on companies building AI infrastructure.
- Bitcoin fell below $76,000, wiping out its post-election recovery as approximately $428 million in leveraged crypto long positions were liquidated within an hour.
- Federal Reserve rate uncertainty and persistent inflation weighed on stocks as investors awaited Friday’s October employment report for clues about the next interest-rate decision.
Why it matters: The selloff erased Wednesday’s 1.6% S&P 500 gain within one session and left the 7% halt threshold only 3.2 percentage points away, undercutting Trump’s praise of record highs and 401(k)s. Tech investors took the heaviest losses, with Nvidia down more than 6% and roughly $428 million in leveraged crypto longs liquidated.
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