Dow plunges 1,834 points as post-midterm rally fizzles out

The party ended early on Wall Street. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 1,834 points lower, a 3.44% drop, after the glow of the midterm elections burned off in a single session. The Nasdaq 100 took the heaviest beating, nosediving 6.36%, or 1,807 points — its biggest slump since March 2020 and a $2.3 trillion loss in market value, according to Breaking The News. The S&P 500 sank 4.35%, or 334 points, its worst day since April 2025.

The spark was political. Democrats seized both chambers of Congress in the midterms, and traders quickly started pricing in the possibility of tougher regulation — artificial intelligence rules in particular — and rotated hard out of tech. Crypto markets caught the chills too, with major digital assets sliding in step with equities, according to the outlet. The dollar finished flat against the euro at $1.12195.

The wreckage was already visible hours before the closing bell. Nvidia, Goldman Sachs and Cisco ranked among the Dow's worst laggards during the morning, down 8.36%, 7.27% and 6.62% at one point. Tesla sank 8.94%, Broadcom dropped 4.71%, Oracle shed 3.85% and Nvidia was off 4.04% in earlier trading, per Breaking The News updates.

Republicans pinned their heavy midterm losses on the war against Iran, according to the outlet. After a brief opening-bell rally on post-election optimism, that political uncertainty helped turn the session into a rout.

Attention now swings to earnings. Airbnb, Lyft and Dropbox were all set to report after the close, giving investors a fresh set of numbers to chew on after a day that wiped out the previous session's gains. It wasn't just an American story either: the UK100 slid 3.85% and Germany's bGER40 lost 1.07%, while gold held flat at $4,098.96 and the yen firmed slightly, with USD/JPY at 157.7813.