The trading session erased earlier market gains and pushed major tech benchmarks deep into negative territory as investors assessed the shifting balance of power in Washington. The steep decline eliminated an estimated $2.9 trillion from S&P 500 firms and roughly $2.5 trillion from Nasdaq equities. President Trump urged calm on Truth Social, predicting a robust rebound despite the immediate disruption to Americans' retirement savings. Market participants are particularly anxious that incoming Democratic lawmakers will introduce stricter regulations targeting artificial intelligence development and data-center projects.
Key points
Democratic projections to control both the House of Representatives and the Senate are ex…: Democratic projections to control both the House of Representatives and the Senate are expected to complicate Donald Trump's legislative agenda.
Wall Street investors are closely watching for increased congressional oversight and stri…: Wall Street investors are closely watching for increased congressional oversight and stricter regulations concerning artificial intelligence and data centers.
President Trump claimed the market slump damaged citizens' 401(k) retirement accounts but…: President Trump claimed the market slump damaged citizens' 401(k) retirement accounts but advised investors to remain patient for a rebound.
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US President Donald Trump has blamed the Democratic Party's sweeping victories in the 2026 midterm elections for a sharp downturn on Wall Street, urging investors to remain calm and predicting that the markets would soon become "bigger and stronger than ever before."
In a post on Truth Social on Thursday (local time), Trump criticised the market's steep losses, describing the decline as one of the worst in history. He also claimed that the sell-off had negatively affected Americans' retirement savings, including their 401(k) accounts.
"The Stock Market suffered one of the Worst Days in History based on the results of the Election. Such a sad thing to watch! 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," Trump wrote.
Seeking to reassure investors amid the turmoil, the US President insisted that the downturn would not derail the market's longer-term prospects.
Investors aggressively unwound speculative and leveraged positions as regulatory threats collided with doubts surrounding the profitability of massive artificial intelligence spending. Political developments, including Democratic congressional victories and state-level pledges targeting data-center construction, triggered rapid capital flight from high-valuation assets. The resulting contagion quickly bypassed pure technology plays to pummel heavily shorted equities, small-cap benchmarks, and defensive consumer gi…
Financial regulators are adjusting requirements on leveraged equity investments to halt the automatic liquidation of client positions. The intervention targets margin accounts where falling asset values typically trigger mandatory disposals. By implementing these relaxed parameters, authorities intend to reduce market volatility driven by cascading portfolio sell-offs.
Shares of the Japanese investment holding firm suffered a sharp downturn during the current trading session. Market participants witnessed equity prices tumble amid emerging developments surrounding the firm's trading performance today. Extended context and clarifying information regarding the exact causes behind this sudden price drop are currently developing.