AI stocks halt their brutal, worldwide sell-off as Wall Street trims its loss for the week
Coeur d'Alene Press | UPDATED 3 hours, 24 minutes AGO
NEW YORK (AP) — AI stocks are bouncing back Friday and recovering some of their sell-off from the last two days. The rest of the U.S. stock market is mixed following a whirlwind few days of Wall Street trying to sort out what this week’s sweeping victories by Democrats in the U.S. midterm elections will mean for the economy.
The S&P 500 rose 0.7% and trimmed its loss for the week to 2.3%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 6 points, or less than 0.1%, as of 1:50 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.4% higher.
Even with this week's extreme swings, the S&P 500 remains only 5.3% below its all-time high, which was set last month.
Friday's relative steadiness for Wall Street halted what had been a worldwide tumble for stocks. Indexes dropped 6% in Tokyo and 6% in Seoul following the U.S. market’s plunge on Thursday, which was its worst since President Donald Trump shook markets in April 2025 with his “Liberation Day” tariffs. European indexes have fewer stocks tied to the artificial-intelligence industry, but Germany’s DAX nevertheless lost 1.9%.
Friday’s biggest lift for the S&P 500 came from Nvidia, the chip company that’s become the face of the boom and possible bust of the AI frenzy. Its stock climbed 3.2%, coming off drops of 9.3% and 3.2%.
It and other companies tied to the build-out of AI data centers tumbled this week on worries that Democratic victories in statehouses across the country could mean a slowdown in further construction, particularly in Texas. Voters across political parties say they’re wary about AI and don’t like increases to power bills caused by data centers.
That built on top of worries already rattling the industry that further construction of AI data centers may slow because of how expensive it’s become to borrow money. Before that, even, critics were saying AI stock prices had shot too high and were in a bubble.
But political power in Washington will still be split between a Democratic Congress and a White House run by the Republican Trump, who retains the power to veto. That could limit federal efforts to rein in the AI industry.
In the meantime, companies in the industry still see strong growth.