For two years, Wall Street bought AI as if power, land and neighbors’ patience were unlimited. Voters just sent a bill. Chip stocks slid again Thursday morning while Big Tech platforms rose.
Why it matters: The post-election rally didn’t end — it changed addresses. If your 401(k) leans on Nasdaq, that matters.
The big picture
- At 7:04 a.m. ET, Nasdaq 100 futures were down about 0.5%, Dow futures up 330 points, S&P 500 futures up 0.2% (Reuters).
- Qualcomm fell 9.6% premarket. Marvell −3.4%, Dell −2.9%, Intel −2%, Nvidia −0.8%; CoreWeave and Nebius about −3%.
- Amazon, Meta and Alphabet rose more than 1%; AppLovin jumped 20% on earnings.
Two hits at once
Politics: Democrats won, including in key data center states where opposition to the buildout is growing (Reuters). UBS estimates pauses could affect roughly 30% of expected 2028 capacity — though it notes chip valuations are “nearing multi-year lows.”
Phones: Qualcomm slightly beat estimates ($2.17 adjusted EPS vs. $2.16) but guided light. Handset chip sales fell 26% to $5.14 billion amid memory-cost turmoil (CNBC), sluggish demand and falling Apple-related revenue (Reuters).
Between the lines
Wednesday the Dow gained 1,569.40 points, its best day since April 2025 (Sharecast); the VIX dropped more than 21% to 16.61 (Barron’s). Money is rotating from AI hardware into platforms that may spend less if the buildout slows — and into old-economy Dow names. Tesla and SpaceX slipped again; Reuters notes Elon Musk spent nearly half a billion dollars backing Republicans.
What’s next
Jobless claims at 8:30 a.m. ET, several Fed speakers, Airbnb and DraftKings after the close, and the October jobs report Friday.
Our view
We think the market finally asked the obvious question: who’s going to permit all these data centers? The irony: chipmakers’ biggest customers are rallying because they may get to spend less. It looks more like a reset of expectations than the end of the AI story. Not investment advice.
Read also
- Stock Market After the Midterms: Overnight Panic, Morning Rally
- AMD Stock Jumps on AI Chip Sales as Texas Turns on Data Centers
- Apple and Palantir Stocks Fall After Beating Earnings
Sources
- Reuters via Investing.com — Nasdaq futures slip on chip weakness (11/05/2026)
- CNBC — Qualcomm stock drops 7% on weak earnings forecast (11/04/2026)
- Barron’s — Dow Futures Rise, Nasdaq Drops as AI Rotation Accelerates (11/05/2026)
- Sharecast — Futures mixed after Dow’s best day since April 2025 (11/05/2026)
- Yahoo Finance — Stock market today (11/05/2026)
By Sergey Danilov, American Panorama. This is not investment advice.
By Sergey Danilov, American Panorama
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