Tech Stumbles, Mood Sours: Stocks Slide into a Losing Week

Investor’s Business Daily, CNBC, Bloomberg, and Reuters contributed to this report.

Wall Street limped into Friday with tech leading the sell-off and consumer confidence in the gutter. By late morning, the S&P 500 was off about 1%, the Nasdaq Composite sank 1.7%, and the Dow fell roughly 200 points (-0.4%), putting all three on track for weekly losses.

The damage was concentrated in the AI complex. Nvidia dropped another 3% and is down about 10% on the week. Oracle slid 3% (also -10% for the week). Palantir is off roughly 14% week-to-date, and Broadcom about 7%. Thursday’s fade in marquee names — Nvidia, AMD, Tesla, Microsoft — set the tone, as investors reassessed sky-high valuations and an increasingly narrow market.

Macro didn’t help. A University of Michigan survey showed consumer sentiment at 50.3, near historic lows and the weakest in more than three years. Fresh data also showed October layoff announcements were the highest for that month in 22 years, making 2025 the worst year for job cuts since 2009. Thanks to the record government shutdown, the jobs report was missing again; economists had expected a 60,000 payroll decline and 4.5% unemployment.

Technically speaking, the S&P 500 broke below its 50-day moving average for the first time since April 30, 2025, ending its longest “above-50-day” run since 2007 — a sentiment hit for momentum traders. Week-to-date, the S&P 500 is down >2%, the Dow more than 1%, and the Nasdaq roughly 4%.

Washington headlines remain a wild card. The Senate is expected to vote on a House stopgap to reopen the government, but the shutdown has already rippled through travel: Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said flights will be cut 10% at 40 major airports, potentially 3,500–4,000 flights daily, and more than 700 US flights were canceled Friday morning.

Bulls still see a path to a year-end bounce — a shutdown resolution, a strong Nvidia earnings print in two weeks, and a December Fed rate cut are the favorite catalysts.

“Corrections after big gains are normal,” said Louis Navellier of Navellier & Associates, urging investors not to panic.

Pricey tech plus grim sentiment and a data vacuum is a tough mix. Until Washington flips the lights back on — and earnings or the Fed deliver a clear positive — markets may keep grinding lower.