Benchmark indices on Wall Street reversed course after starting off on a strong note on Monday, November 2, with tech shares selling off yet again, continuing the brutal correction witnessed on Friday.
The Dow Jones managed to outperform its tech-heavy peers, ending with gains of 200 points, not before the index cooled off nearly 450 points from the highs of the day. The S&P 500 fell over 120 points from the day’s high to end 0.5% lower. The pain came on the Nasdaq indices, with the Nasdaq Composite declining 715 and the Nasdaq 100 index falling over 750 points from their respective highs of the session. At the day’s high, both Nasdaq indices and the S&P 500 were up over 1.1% each.
With Monday’s sell-off, the Nasdaq 100 has entered the “technical correction” zone once again, meaning a fall of over 10% from its peak. Old economy names such as Sherwin-Williams, Home Depot, Honeywell International, Boeing kept the Dow Jones in the green.
Why Tech Shares Sold-Off Again On Monday?
Various stock specific triggers, most of them pertaining to debt triggered yet another bout of selling among tech shares on Wall Street overnight.
Marvell Technology announced that it will be acquiring Lumentum in a $115 billion all stock deal, leading to a 13% fall in the former, and a 18% decline in the latter. Both stocks had gained between 150% to 300% during the course of the year so far before Monday’s sell-off.
Additionally, Oracle fell 8% after selling equity and debt worth $10 billion each to fund its AI buildout, while Microsoft also sold bonds worth $25 billion on Monday, the first since 2017 along with simultaneously raising debt in the European bond market for the second time this year.
Reports also suggested that Meta is eyeing a fund raise of nearly $20 billion by issuing debt in various currencies. Alphabet, Amazon, Oracle, Meta, Nvidia & SpaceX have cumulatively raised $429 billion via bonds since 2025.
Shares of Microsoft were down 3% overnight, while Meta dropped 1.3%.
Tech Overshadows Oil Drop
The sell-off in tech stocks overshadowed rising hopes of a potential deal between the US and Iran, resulting in an 8% drop in Brent crude oil prices, the most in three months.
Iran President Pezeshkian told IRNA that Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has granted the government more powers to pursue peace talks with the US, while US President Donald Trump said that there could be a deal with Iran since they want to make one, and also responded “No”, when a reporter asked whether strikes on Iran will resume after the midterms.
Key Triggers For Wall Street Today
The outcome of the midterm elections will be the biggest market trigger tonight, while macro data such as the JOLTS job openings will also be keenly watched. Results from AMD will be significant, especially after the recent meltdown.
Explained – Why Dow Jones, Nasdaq fell as much as 750 points from the highs on Monday