The S&P 500 fell 4.36% on Thursday 5 November, the sharpest drop of the recent run and a reversal of Wednesday's 1.58% gain. The Democratic wins in Congress on 3 November, which hit data-centre power names on Wednesday, spread on Thursday to chips, memory, optics and hardware. Intel's October warning on PC demand had started the slide, and weekly figures below run from the 29 October close.
Chips and Hardware Reprice on Data-Centre Policy
Chip stocks carried most of the index's fall, and the pattern points to valuation more than earnings. AMD (-17.26%) closed at $404.40 on 3.25 times average volume. Its results on 3 November came with a 1.01% gain on 4 November, so Thursday's fall belongs to policy fears. Investors worry that tighter limits on data-centre construction would follow the midterms, though no rule or bill exists. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index fell 12.25%.
Chip-equipment names fell together: LRCX (-16.36%) closed at $185.20 and TER (-15.24%) at $212.74, with Applied Materials and KLA down 13% to 14%. Applied Materials had no news and no estimate cuts, which places the damage in multiples. INTC (-10.33%, -43.25% wk) closed at $52.25, adding a policy leg to the PC-guidance collapse of 30 October. DELL (-14.89%, -33.35% wk) closed at $316.91 and CIEN (-15.22%, -33.95% wk) at $230.81. Ciena fell despite raised guidance and trades on 19.5 times forward earnings.
MCHP (-13.92%) closed at $64.85 before its results. The December guidance of flat to down 3% sequential revenue arrived after the close, so Friday brings the first session on that news.
Memory and Storage Extend the Slide
The group that fell last week on Kioxia's warning and memory costs lost more. SNDK (-22.26%, -39.37% wk) closed at $806.43 with no company news, and sources do not agree on whether policy or memory pricing dominated. WDC (-17.35%) closed at $267.63 after Arizona Rep. Yassamin Ansari posted that a pause on advanced AI development should top the Democratic agenda. Cloud customers supplied 88% of its latest quarterly revenue. STX (-16.25%, -33.40% wk) closed at $466.53 and P (-16.40%) at $93.44.
MU (-17.46%) closed at $656.39 on 2.95 times average volume. It fell further than most peers after Bloomberg reported that construction of its Taoyuan fab had nearly halted during a union pay dispute. Micron says operations continue as normal, and no source measures how much of the drop the report explains.
Marvell and Lumentum
MRVL (-16.43%) closed at $133.55, 38.83% below its 29 October level. Selling in AI data-centre names combined with dislike of the dilution from the all-stock Lumentum purchase. LITE (-18.68%) closed at $509.70. Each Lumentum share converts into 4.5 Marvell shares with no collar, so it follows Marvell's price down. Lumentum has lost 44.57% in five sessions.
Data-Centre Power and Fuel Cells
Wednesday's power-and-grid reaction reached VRT (-14.02%), which closed at $176.73 after a 12.89% drop the day before. Vertiv issued no statement, and analysts doubt legislation could stall construction. BE (-16.41%) closed at $167.52 even though NTT DATA announced a 900 MW onsite power agreement before the open. About 97% of Bloom's third-quarter revenue came from the US, which leaves it exposed to Texas, where governor-elect Gina Hinojosa campaigned on a moratorium.
Results and One-Offs
APP (+31.04%) closed at $356.10, the only large gain, after third-quarter revenue rose 55% and fourth-quarter guidance of $2.37bn to $2.40bn topped a $2.25bn consensus. Six brokers raised targets, and the shares remain 42.41% lower this year. DDOG (-7.48%, -34.32% wk) closed at $174.60 on the AI-stock slide, without fresh company news after Wednesday's flat fourth-quarter guide.
EXPE (-13.74%) closed at $272.48 after fourth-quarter guidance undershot estimates, and management cited disruption in Europe and the Middle East. ROK (-14.15%) closed at $381.05 because an $85m tariff refund accrual cut revenue to $2.33bn against $2.41bn expected, although adjusted EPS beat.
CCH.L (-17.88%) closed at 4,052.00p on 2.84m shares. Kommersant reported that a Russian brewer asked President Putin to place Coca-Cola HBC's Russian units under external management. The company has received no notification and no decree exists. Drinks peers rose, and the Kremlin's takeover of Nestlé's Russian assets in September gave investors a precedent.
What to watch
- 6 November: Microchip (MCHP) trades on its guidance for the first time.
- 12 November: Applied Materials reports, the nearest read on chip equipment.
- 18 November: Everpure (P) reports.
- 20 November: Sandisk (SNDK) splits 8-for-1.
- 24 November: Dell (DELL) reports.
- 1 December: Marvell (MRVL) reports fiscal third-quarter results.
- 10 December: Ciena (CIEN) reports.
- 27-28 January 2027: Teradyne (TER), Intel (INTC) and Western Digital (WDC) report.
- No date set: a Russian government decision on Coca-Cola HBC's Multon units.