Market-moving news for Thursday, November 5, 2026

What happened

U.S. stocks closed sharply lower on Thursday, November 5, completing a violent two-day reversal after Wednesday's post-midterm rally. The Nasdaq Composite plunged 5.52% to 24,315.00, confirming correction territory (at least 10% below its October 6 record closing high) in its biggest single-day percentage drop since April 2025's 'Liberation Day' selloff. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1,833 points, or 3.44%, to 51,523.06, fully erasing Wednesday's 1,500-point post-election surge. The S&P 500 dropped 4.36% to 7,353.73, with every sector finishing in the red. In dollar terms it was the largest single-day market-cap wipeout ever: S&P 500 firms shed $2.9 trillion and Nasdaq companies lost $2.5 trillion. The Magnificent 7 alone lost $1.04 trillion, led by Nvidia (-$374 billion, -9.3%) and Tesla (-$161 billion, about -10.8%), with Microsoft down $117 billion.

What happened

The Nasdaq Composite fell more than 5% intraday on Thursday, November 5, pushing the index more than 10% below its recent record and into correction territory. The S&P 500 dropped about 3.3-3.4% and the Dow fell roughly 1,200 points (about 2.3%), wiping out most of Wednesday's post-midterm rally in a single session. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index fell about 7.1%, and the iShares Semiconductor ETF dropped as much as 11% intraday, potentially its worst session since March 2020. Individual chip and AI-infrastructure names plunged: AMD fell about 13%, Qualcomm nearly 12%, Sandisk, Astera Labs, Seagate, Lumentum, Micron and Western Digital each fell 12-18%, Nvidia about 7% and Tesla about 9.5%.

What happened

U.S. stocks reversed Wednesday's post-midterm rally sharply on Thursday, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite falling about 3.1% intraday to 24,941 and the Nasdaq-100 down roughly 2%, putting the Nasdaq on course for correction territory a day after the Dow posted its best day since April 2025. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index extended Wednesday's 3.1% drop, with AMD down about 11%, Qualcomm down 9.7%, Marvell down 8.1%, Micron down 7.9%, Intel down 6.5%, Broadcom down 4.7% and Nvidia down about 4%. Tesla tumbled 9.5% and SpaceX eased 6.7%, while Meta slid 3.4% and Microsoft fell about 2.2%. The Dow fell roughly 0.7% to 53,004 and the S&P 500 lost about 1.7%, as money rotated into defensives, healthcare, staples and energy.

What happened

Toyota Motor raised its annual earnings forecast after a weaker yen and cost cuts bolstered quarterly operating profit, signaling confidence in navigating disruptions from U.S. tariffs and the Iran war. Shares surged as much as 17% in Tokyo on Thursday, their biggest one-day percentage gain since 1987. For the three months ended September, net profit fell 19% to 759.4 billion yen ($4.79 billion), slightly missing analysts' estimate of 779.6 billion yen, but operating profit climbed 34% to 1.128 trillion yen. For the fiscal year ending March 2027, Toyota now projects net profit of 3.570 trillion yen, down 7.2% year over year but an improvement from its earlier view of 3.250 trillion yen. CFO Yoichi Miyazaki said Thursday there is further room for cost reduction, while noting 'we haven't been able to bounce back from the impact of (U.S.) tariffs and the situation in the Middle East.'

What happened

AppLovin (APP) reported record third-quarter 2026 results after Wednesday's close: revenue of $2.18 billion, up 55% year over year, and net income of $1.44 billion, up 72%, for an industry-leading 66% net income margin. Adjusted EBITDA reached $1.84 billion, up 59%, an 84% margin, and diluted EPS was $4.30, beating the roughly $4.03 consensus. Revenue exceeded the high end of guidance by about $100 million. The company guided Q4 revenue to $2.365-$2.395 billion with adjusted EBITDA of $1.995-$2.025 billion, and its board approved a further $3.2 billion in buybacks, taking total authorization to $3.6 billion. AppLovin was among Thursday's biggest premarket gainers, with shares up roughly 35% on the print.

What happened

Qualcomm reported fiscal Q4 results after Wednesday's close that slightly beat Wall Street on the quarter but paired it with a soft outlook, sending shares down roughly 7% in extended trading. Adjusted EPS came in at $2.17 on adjusted revenue of $10.44 billion, versus a $2.16 consensus and roughly $10.1-10.5 billion expected. For the December quarter, Qualcomm guided adjusted EPS to $2.15-$2.35 (midpoint $2.25, below the $2.27 consensus) on revenue of $10.4-$11.2 billion. The company warned its chip-design segment operating margin will fall to 20-22% from 24% in Q4, citing broad-based increases in input costs across wafer fabrication, assembly, test, advanced packaging and memory. Handset chip revenue fell 26% year over year to $5.14 billion, below the $5.21 billion estimate, while automotive revenue soared 89% to $1.99 billion, well ahead of the $1.66 billion estimate. CEO Cristiano Amon framed it as a supply problem, not a demand one: "We don't have a demand issue; it's a supply issue." Qualcomm also reiterated its target of $5 billion in data-center revenue in fiscal 2027, up from about $650 million this quarter.

What happened

Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack said on Thursday that inflation has moved in the wrong direction since March and that 'I expect that monetary policy will need to move to a restrictive stance to bring inflation back to 2% in a timely manner.' Her hawkish comments weighed on stocks and Treasuries on a day the market was already selling off. Rate futures moved in response: markets are now pricing about an 83% chance of a 25-basis-point rate hike at the FOMC's December 8-9 meeting, up from about 79% earlier in the day. The 10-year Treasury yield, which had fallen to a 1.75-month low of 4.835%, rose back to about 4.90%.

What happened

Dell Technologies (DELL) fell roughly 7.5% in Thursday's session to about $344.44, extending a sharp multi-day selloff in AI infrastructure hardware after closing down 8.8% at $372.36 on Wednesday. The immediate catalyst was Intel's warning that global PC shipments could fall about 12% in 2026 and another 10% in 2027 on memory shortages and rising component costs, which hit PC-exposed hardware names. Investors also priced in the risk of tighter regulation or construction moratoriums on new AI data centers after the Democrats' midterm sweep, particularly in high-growth states such as Texas. Note: the Melius Research price-target cut (to $590 from $735) was made on Monday, Nov 2 — not a fresh Thursday development; it is cited in same-day coverage as a compounding factor, not new analyst action. Recent regulatory filings also showed insider sales of roughly 1.8 million shares worth close to $991 million over the prior quarter.