AI Stocks Bounce Back as Wall Street Trims a Brutal Week of Losses

AI stocks bounced back on Friday, November 6, 2026, and Wall Street steadied after two rough days. The S and P 500 closed up 23.13 points, or 0.31 percent, at 7,376.86. The Nasdaq Composite closed up 264.43 points, or 1.09 percent, at 24,579.43. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 237.33 points, or 0.46 percent, at 51,285.73.

AP reported the same moves in rounded form, the S and P 500 up 0.3 percent, the Nasdaq up 1.1 percent and the Dow down 0.5 percent, and said more stocks fell than rose inside the S and P 500.

The bounce followed a brutal Thursday. The S and P 500 fell 4.36 percent on Thursday to 7,353.73, the Nasdaq fell 5.52 percent to 24,315.00 and the Dow fell 1,833.06 points, or 3.44 percent, to 51,523.06, according to Zacks. AP called Thursday the worst day for the United States market since President Donald Trump shook markets in April 2025 with his Liberation Day tariffs. The selling spread overseas on Friday, with indexes in Tokyo and Seoul each dropping 6 percent, and Germany's DAX lost 1.9 percent.

Chip stocks led the recovery

Nvidia gave the S and P 500 its biggest lift. Its stock climbed 3.6 percent, after drops of 9.3 percent and 3.2 percent in the two sessions before Friday, AP reported. Lam Research climbed 8.5 percent after it announced a program to return up to $25 billion to investors by buying back its own shares. Micron Technology climbed 5.6 percent and CoreWeave rose 5.8 percent. IREN, which provides data centers and computing for AI training, jumped 19.4 percent after stronger results than analysts expected and two new contracts signed since the end of the quarter.

Why AI stocks fell this week

Companies tied to AI data center construction tumbled this week on worries that Democratic victories in statehouses could slow further building, particularly in Texas, AP reported. Voters say they are wary of AI and dislike the higher power bills data centers bring. Borrowing costs already worried the industry, and critics had been saying AI prices had risen too high. Power in Washington stays split between a Democratic Congress and a Republican White House, and President Trump keeps the veto, which could limit federal efforts to rein in the industry.

Drags on the day and the bond market

Axon Enterprise tumbled 17.1 percent after weaker results than analysts expected and a $1.2 billion investment in Skydio, a drone technology company. Charter Communications sank 5.7 percent after reporting a quarterly loss, when analysts had expected a profit.

In the bond market, the yield on the 10 year Treasury edged up to 4.85 percent from 4.84 percent late Thursday. It had topped 5.30 percent last month. A strong jobs report supported yields. United States employers added 165,000 jobs in October, and AP reported that traders saw a greater probability of the Federal Reserve raising its short term interest rate at its December meeting, based on data from CME Group. A preliminary University of Michigan report said consumer sentiment unexpectedly improved, and expectations for inflation in the coming year eased.

Despite the week's sharp swings, AP said the S and P 500 remains only 5.3 percent below its all time high, set last month.