U.S. markets plunged sharply on Thursday, a development seemingly driven by fears over AI and possible regulation by the incoming Democratic Congress. The S&P 500 index declined by 4.4%, its worst single-day performance since President Trump unveiled his “Liberation Day” tariffs in April 2025, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite dropped by more than 5.5%, putting it in correction territory. The so-called “Magnificent Seven” (Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, Tesla, and Nvidia) collectively lost over $1 trillion in value. 

Today’s declines followed a rally yesterday, and were attributed by analysts to investors’ fears that the next Congress might implement stricter regulations on the AI industry, as well as broader concerns about the sustainability of the AI buildout.