Trillions Vanish In Record Selloff As Wall Street Panics Over Dem Takeover

Just a little over a day after Democrats won a massive victory in the midterm election, investors bolted from artificial intelligence stocks Thursday as they fear the

new Congress will slow the trillion-dollar data center boom. The selloff erased a record-shattering amount of market value in a single session.

The S&P 500 sank 4.36% to 7,353.73, and its companies lost a record $2.9 trillion in value. The tech-heavy Nasdaq fared even worse. It plunged 5.52% to 24,315 and wiped out $2.5 trillion.

The Dow dropped 1,833 points, or 3.44%, to 51,523.06. That erased all of Wednesday's 1,500-point rally, which had been its best day in a year and a half.

Retirement savers took a hit, too. One money manager estimated that 401(k)s shed about 4% in a day.

The Magnificent Seven alone lost more than $1 trillion. Nvidia lost $374 billion in value as its shares slid 9%. Tesla and Microsoft lost $161 billion and $117 billion, respectively.

Broadcom fell 10% and Oracle lost 7%. Qualcomm dropped 9% on a gloomy forecast despite beating earnings estimates. "Neocloud" outfits that rent out AI computing power got hit hardest, with Nebius plunging 15% and CoreWeave dropping 10%.

President Donald Trump said the stock market slide was "a sad thing to watch" and pinned the blame on Democrats and the blue tsunami election results.

"It took so much work to get us to a level that no one has ever seen before, and then this. Your 401(k)s have, therefore, dropped. Remember, it wasn't Republicans, it was Dumocrats. Do not fear, however, we will soon, one way or the other, be BIGGER AND STRONGER THAN EVER BEFORE," Trump said Thursday evening.

Nasdaq and S&P futures bounced back slightly Friday morning, but Dow Jones futures remained underwater.

The fear is that Democrats are coming for AI.

Sen. Bernie Sanders didn't wait, demanding a "national data center moratorium now." Rep. Greg Casar (D-TX) and fellow leftists want to rein in what Trump has named "superintelligence" and halt new construction outright. Rep. Ted Lieu of California promised public hearings and new AI "guardrails." Party leaders want tech CEOs hauled in to testify under oath.

The pain could hit hardest in Texas, home to roughly a quarter of the nation's planned data-center capacity. Democrats flipped the Senate seat there, and Gina Hinojosa ousted Gov. Greg Abbott after campaigning on a pause for new projects.

Tech bull Dan Ives warned the buildout will slow sharply through 2028. UBS estimated that about 30% of planned capacity could be affected.

Voters were already souring on the power-guzzling projects. Ballot measures in communities across the country went overwhelmingly against new data centers.

The Democratic party is split on how far to go, and any sweeping crackdown would face a likely Trump veto. Some on Wall Street say the real threat is governors and local regulators, not Congress.

Not everyone blames politics; some money managers argue that tech valuations had simply floated too far from reality and were due for a fall.

OpenAI has already issued pledges to cut power use at peak hours and disclose noise and water impacts.

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