The Nasdaq Composite closed Friday at 24,579.42, down 857.57 points for the week, while the S&P 500 finished at 7,376.86 after losing 203.21 points. Both indexes bounced on Friday, but not nearly enough to repair the damage from a Thursday selloff in artificial-intelligence and chip stocks. For the week ending Nov. 6, the Nasdaq’s loss works out to 3.4% and the S&P 500’s to 2.7%.
For anyone who owns a target-date fund, a 401(k) or an index fund, those two numbers are the ones that show up on the next statement. Tech companies make up a large slice of the major indexes, so a week like this one lowers balances even for people who have never bought a single chip stock.
Stay ahead of government payment news: Miss an enrollment or claim deadline and the money can be gone. Join the Retirement Money Brief and we’ll send you our 2026 Government Check Reality Tracker as a welcome gift.
Get the Brief + the check tracker →
We may earn a commission from links on this page.
How big was the Nasdaq’s slide?
Reuters reported that the Nasdaq’s 3.4% weekly drop was its fourth straight weekly decline, leaving the index in a correction, about 10% below the peak it reached a month earlier. Starting from the prior Friday’s close of 25,437.00, the week took off 857.57 points before the weekend.
Almost all of that loss came in one session. On Thursday the Nasdaq sank 1,421.52 points, or 5.5%, to 24,315.00, according to the AP, which put it 11.9% below its all-time high from last month. Friday’s gain of 264.43 points, or 1.1%, recovered less than a fifth of that day.
The rebound was real but narrow. Reuters said the Nasdaq rose as much as 2% during Friday’s session before settling at a gain of about 1.1%. Information technology led the gains, while consumer staples and health care lagged, so the lift came almost entirely from the same corner of the market that had been hit hardest.
What sank the chip stocks on Thursday?
The AP said stocks tied to AI data center construction led the decline. Investors have worried that building could slow because borrowing has become expensive, and Democratic wins in Tuesday’s midterm elections raised the possibility that governments could pause new data center projects. Voters across parties are wary of AI and of higher power bills tied to data centers, the AP noted.
Nvidia fell 9.3% and was the heaviest drag on the S&P 500, while Advanced Micro Devices dropped 17.3% and CoreWeave 9.8%. Micron Technology, whose stock has roughly quadrupled this year, slid on the same day.
Adam Turnquist, chief cross-asset strategist for LPL Financial in Charlotte, North Carolina, called the week’s selling a “knee-jerk reaction” to the midterm election results, Reuters reported. Whether the fear of fewer data centers proves justified will depend on what the new Congress and statehouses actually do, and none of that has been decided yet.
Did Friday’s rebound change the picture?
Chip makers snapped back. The AP said Nvidia rose 2.8% after drops of 9.3% and 3.2% in the previous two sessions, and Lam Research gained 8.2% after announcing a program to return up to $25 billion to investors through buybacks, according to the AP’s Friday report. Reuters put the semiconductor index up 4.2% on the day, with AMD up 11% and Micron up 5.1%.
Keith Lerner, chief investment officer at Truist Advisory Services in Atlanta, told Reuters that AI remains the market’s dominant theme and that technology still gets “the benefit of the doubt.” A rebound of 1.1% in an index that fell 5.5% the day before, he suggested, does not by itself end the argument over how much to pay for AI.
Not every tech name recovered. Atlassian fell 16% after first-quarter results, Reuters said, and Axon Enterprise dropped 18.2% on weaker-than-expected results, the AP reported.
Where did the S&P 500 end up?
The S&P 500 gained 23.13 points, or 0.3%, on Friday to reach 7,376.86. Its 2.7% weekly decline was its worst week in more than a year, the AP said, and left the index 5.7% below its record high from last month. The prior Friday’s close was 7,580.07, which is where the week’s 203.21-point loss starts.
The Thursday tumble was the index’s worst day since April 2025, when President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs shook markets, the AP reported. The 10-year Treasury yield ended Friday at 4.86%, up from 4.84% the day before, and has come down from above 5.30% last month.
What does a correction mean for money meant to last?
A correction is Wall Street’s term for a drop of 10% or more from a recent high. It is a label, not a forecast, and past corrections have been followed by both recoveries and deeper declines. What matters for a retiree is how much of a portfolio sits in stocks and how soon the money is needed for bills.
Money a household expects to spend within a year or two does not need to ride out weeks like this one. Insured bank savings and Treasury securities do not rise and fall with the Nasdaq, which is why savers often set aside a cushion of cash before they go looking for returns.
Is the money you will need soon sitting where a Nasdaq week cannot reach it?
A Nasdaq that loses 857.57 points in a week and an S&P 500 that falls 2.7% can shrink a retirement account by thousands of dollars before the next statement arrives. Money needed for rent, taxes or medical bills in the next year or two is the money least able to wait for a rebound.
Make Your Savings Pay You is an 11-page guide that includes every dollar insured, even above $250,000 at one bank, and high-yield savings for the cushion you might need this year. It also sets out a ladder you can copy, so cash comes due on a schedule, and a cash-map worksheet to find what your money earns now.
Get the guide to insured savings and a copyable ladder for cash you cannot risk →
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
Warren Cohen is a finance writer based in Phoenix, Arizona, covering personal finance topics including credit, banking, and beginner investing. He earned his degree in business administration from Arizona State University and began his career working in consumer finance, where he gained direct experience with lending and credit systems. He now writes for personal finance websites and fintech platforms, focusing on clear, practical content that helps readers make informed financial decisions.
