Stock Market Today: S&P 500 Drops 4.36% in Broad Sell-Off
Major U.S. indexes tumbled on Thursday as technology stocks led a market-wide decline, while the VIX surged nearly 70%.
- The S&P 500 plunged 334.89 points, or 4.36%, to finish at 7,353.73.
- Information Technology was the weakest sector of the day, sliding 8.00%.
- Market volatility jumped sharply as the VIX leaped 69.66% to 28.18.
Major Indexes Tumble Across the Board
Wall Street suffered steep losses on Thursday, with the S&P 500 falling 4.36% to close at 7,353.73. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite dropped 5.52% to 24,315.00, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average sank 1,833.06 points, or 3.44%, to 51,523.06. The small-cap Russell 2000 retreated 4.45% to end at 2,729.89, and the CBOE Volatility Index spiked 69.66% to 28.18.
Technology Leads Broad Sector Declines
All eleven major sectors posted declines for the session, paced by an 8.00% drop in Information Technology. Industrials fell 4.12% and Consumer Discretionary declined 3.83%, while Communication Services held up best with a 0.59% loss. Defensives also showed relative resilience, as Utilities slid 0.71% and Consumer Staples decreased 0.75%.
Market Breadth Deteriorates
Declining issues decisively outpaced advancers across the S&P Composite 1500, with 1,298 stocks falling and just 205 rising. Despite the heavy selling, 174 stocks achieved new 52-week highs compared to 72 new 52-week lows. Across the index, 56.00% of components remained above their 50-day moving average and 52.00% stayed above their 200-day moving average.
Notable Stock Movers and Heavy Volume
AppLovin surged 31.04% to $356.10 on 5.1 times its normal volume, while Encore Capital Group gained 26.26% to $126.17. On the downside, Penguin Solutions fell 23.02% to $37.22, and Sandisk dropped 22.26% to $806.43. Among the most active mega-caps by dollar volume, Micron Technology dropped 17.46% to $656.39 and Nvidia fell 9.26% to $181.60.
What Is on Deck for Friday
Investors will turn their focus to several key corporate earnings reports scheduled for Friday, November 6, 2026. Companies reporting before the opening bell include Moderna, Humana, Vistra Corp., and Charter Communications. Berkshire Hathaway is also slated to report quarterly results.
Written with AI (Google Gemini) from the closing data in the tables on this page; every figure in the text was checked against that data before publishing. Prices are end-of-day. Not investment advice.