US open: Stocks tank, Nasdaq drops 4pc as post-election rally fades

5th Nov 2026 10:47

(Sharecast News) - US stock markets opened sharply lower on Thursday as the post-midterm election rally quickly faded, with tech stocks under intense selling pressure.

Heightened concerns that the Democrats' sweeping victory in Washington could lead to greater scrutiny of AI infrastructure spending and data centre development weighed heavily on companies in the AI and chip sectors.

The sell-off pushed the tech-heavy Nasdaq down around 4.0% in morning trade, dropping over 1,000 points early on to dip below the 25,000 level for the first time since late-July. The Dow was 1.5% lower, while the S&P 500 dropped 2.5%.

Qualcomm was among the worst performers in morning trade after the semiconductor group reported an 8% fall in fourth-quarter revenues on the back of lower smartphone chip sales. Revenues came in at $10.32bn, though still ahead of the $10.12bn consensus forecast, but handset sales tanked 26% year-on-year.

Others in the sector were also in the red, including Nvidia, Broadcom, Micron Technology and AMD.

As for Thursday's headlines, US employers announced 43,994 job cuts in October, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas, up 2% from September's 43,281 but down 71% from the same month a year earlier. October's reading was the lowest for the month since 2023 and marked the eighth time this year that planned layoffs came in below levels seen a year earlier. Food companies led announced job cuts during the month with 9,677, followed by the technology sector with 5,576 and services firms with 5,458.

Year-to-date, employers have announced 617,189 job cuts, representing a 44% decline from the same period a year earlier for the lowest print for the first 10 months of the year since 2022, when employers announced 243,338 layoffs. Despite the broader improvement in labour market conditions, technology remained the hardest-hit sector, accounting for 171,501 planned job cuts so far this year, up 21% year-on-year.

US jobless claims fell 6,000 to 189,000 last week, under the 196,000 consensus forecast, matching a 57-year low recorded in July.