Nasdaq and S&P 500 bounce as chip stocks recover; Dow slips after hot jobs report — November 6, 2026

The Session

The S&P 500 rose 23.13 points, or 0.31%, to 7,376.86 on Friday. The Nasdaq Composite gained 264.43 points, or 1.09%, to 24,579.42, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 237.33 points, or 0.46%, to 51,285.73 ^[1]. The Russell 2000 added 0.89% to 2,754.11, and the VIX volatility index dropped 9.01% to 25.64 ^[1][2]. The rebound came after a steep Thursday selloff in which the S&P 500 fell more than 4%, its worst day since the April 2025 tariff crash ^[3]. That drop was driven by worries that Democratic gains in Congress could bring tougher AI regulation and slow AI spending ^[1][4].

Chip stocks led the recovery. AMD rose 11.04%, Intel 7.71% and Nvidia 2.78%, according to StockTitan ^[5]. A Reuters morning report put the semiconductor index up 4.6% after its fall of more than 12% the day before ^[4]. The October jobs report came in well above forecasts. The economy added 165,000 jobs, compared with expectations of 59,000 in a Dow Jones poll ^[4][5]; Yahoo Finance cited a 65,000 consensus ^[1]. Unemployment eased to 4.1% from 4.2% ^[1]. The data raised expectations of a December Federal Reserve rate hike. Reuters reported traders putting the odds of a hike at 78%, up from 70% ^[4]. The 10-year Treasury yield rose about 2 basis points to roughly 4.86% ^[1][2].

The gains were narrow. About 184 S&P 500 stocks rose and 318 fell ^[2]; another tally counted roughly 182 gainers and 312 decliners ^[6]. Technology was the best sector, up 1.45%, followed by communication services, up 0.43%. Consumer staples was the worst, down 1.28%, followed by materials (down 0.73%) and real estate (down 0.68%) ^[2][6]. For the week, the S&P 500 fell 2.68% and the Nasdaq fell 3.37% ^[2]. Yahoo Finance said both indexes had their worst week since June ^[1].