Nasdaq Drops Most Since Pandemic as AI Stock Selloff Deepens

The Nasdaq dropped the most since the pandemic as major technology and artificial intelligence stocks plummeted, with the index losing value as investors moved to unwind bets tied to the sector. The selloff hit the AI-linked names that have driven the index's gains.

A Democratic 'blue wave' upended AI bets, framing the political outcome as the catalyst for the reversal in positioning. The scale of the move marks a severe single-session contraction for the technology-heavy index, and the sharpest since the pandemic selloff.

The decline underscores how concentrated the market's exposure to AI-related equities has become. With the largest technology names carrying outsized index weight, a broad retreat from AI positioning transmits quickly into headline index losses. The selloff was not confined to a narrow group of smaller AI-adjacent companies but swept across the major technology stocks that anchor the Nasdaq.

For investors, the session highlights the sensitivity of AI-linked valuations to shifts in the political and policy backdrop. Positioning that had been built on expectations around the previous political configuration is now being repriced, and the speed of the move — the largest since the pandemic — suggests crowded positioning amplified the decline. The key question for markets is whether this represents a one-session repricing or the start of a sustained rotation away from the AI trade that has dominated index returns.