S&P 500 Plunges Up to 3.8% in Tech Rout Following Midterm Elections

The S&P 500 dropped as much as 3.8% on Thursday, completely reversing its post-midterm election rally amid fears of potential trading halts. The broad-market rout was driven by steep losses in technology and semiconductor equities, stoked by concerns that Democratic congressional victories could trigger regulatory scrutiny and permitting bottlenecks for artificial intelligence data centers and energy consumption. Semiconductor shares tumbled heavily, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index plunging up to 10.9%. The Cboe Volatility Index surged up to 70% to 28.09, while mega-cap names including Tesla sank 9.46% and Nvidia dropped over 6%.