Daily Summary: The Honeymoon Is Over: Wall Street Plunges Into a Massive Sell-Off

📈 Stock Market

• Wall Street is facing a sharp sell-off that has spread across almost the entire US equity market. Following a brief period of optimism surrounding the midterm elections, investor sentiment has deteriorated significantly.

• The technology-heavy Nasdaq is down more than 5%, the benchmark S&P 500 is losing around 4%, while the Dow Jones is falling by nearly 3%.

• The main source of pressure is growing concern over potential regulatory tightening surrounding AI infrastructure development following the Democrats' victory in the midterm elections. According to emerging estimates, new restrictions could delay around 30% of data centre projects planned for 2028.

• Regulatory risks are weighing on both semiconductor manufacturers, such as Nvidia, AMD and Micron, and data centre operators, including CoreWeave and Nebius.

• Technology stocks and companies linked to AI infrastructure are among the biggest losers in today's session:

  • SanDisk is down 20%.

  • IREN is losing 17%.

  • AMD is falling 15.5%.

  • Micron is down 15.00%.

  • Tesla is losing 12%.

  • Qualcomm is falling 10%.

  • SpaceX is down 8%.

  • Nvidia is losing 8.%.

• Qualcomm is adding further pressure to the technology sector, as its latest results disappointed investors. Revenue from smartphone chipsets fell by 26% to USD 5.14 billion. The company is struggling with a significant slowdown in the smartphone market, while rising memory and component prices are putting additional pressure on margins.

• European markets experienced a considerably calmer session than their US counterparts. The UK's FTSE 100 and Germany's DAX both declined by around 0.4%. Meanwhile, France's CAC 40 gained 0.3%, while Spain's IBEX 35 advanced by 0.4%.

📊 Macroeconomics

• The Bank of England (BoE) raised interest rates by 25 basis points, from 3.75% to 4.00%, in line with market expectations.

• The bigger surprise came from the voting split, which ended 8–1. One committee member even favoured a larger increase to 4.25%, signalling a more hawkish stance among some policymakers than anticipated.

• Rising energy prices remain the main source of persistent inflationary pressure, complicating the outlook for monetary policy in the UK.

• The US labour market continues to demonstrate considerable resilience. Initial jobless claims fell to 189,000 in the week ending October 31, compared with 195,000 a week earlier.

• The reading comfortably beat economists' expectations of an increase to 197,000. The data point to persistently low levels of layoffs and a healthy labour market, although businesses remain cautious about expanding their workforces.

🌍 Geopolitics

• Russia has reportedly advised its citizens to avoid travelling to Iran, potentially signalling growing concerns about further escalation in the Middle East.

• These reports come amid ongoing negotiations between the United States and Tehran and could suggest that Washington is considering an intensification of military operations against Iran.

🧱 Commodities & Precious Metals

• Precious metals remain on an upward trajectory despite the sharp deterioration in sentiment across equity markets.

• Gold futures are gaining around 1%, breaking above the USD 4,100 per ounce level.

• Silver is also trading higher, with futures advancing by approximately 0.5%.

• Crude oil remains below the psychologically important USD 100 per barrel threshold. Brent prices are holding below this level despite today's rebound.

• US WTI crude futures are trading in the USD 90–91 per barrel range.

🪙 Crypto Assets

• The cryptocurrency market is taking a significant hit from today's broad risk-off sentiment. The widespread sell-off across financial markets has also translated into substantial pressure on the largest digital assets.

• Bitcoin is down more than 5.5%, testing the USD 76,000 level.

• Ethereum is falling by nearly 8%, declining towards USD 2,250.