You know how it goes sometimes. A company reports fantastic earnings, gives optimistic guidance, and the stock... goes down. That's what happened with Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) on Thursday, and the sell-off didn't stop there. It spread like a bad mood across the entire tech sector, dragging down major indices and giving Wall Street's so-called "fear gauge" a notable jolt higher.
The Santa Clara-based chip giant, fresh off what can only be described as blockbuster results, slumped 4.5% during midday trading. That put it on track for its worst single-day performance since October 2025. It’s a classic case of "sell the news," where even great news can trigger profit-taking if everyone was already expecting it. Adding a layer of intrigue to the caution was a warning from "Big Short" investor Michael Burry. He pointed out that Nvidia's purchase commitments are starting to look a lot like those made by Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) back at the dizzying peak of the dot-com bubble. That’s the kind of historical comparison that tends to make investors a little nervous.
The pullback was contagious. Other chipmakers felt the heat, with Broadcom Inc. (AVGO) dropping 6% and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) losing 4%. The pain extended to all the so-called Magnificent 7 stocks, collectively wiping out about $400 billion in market capitalization in a single session. It was a broad-based tech retreat.
By midday in New York, the damage was clear across the board:
- The S&P 500 was down 0.9%
- The Nasdaq 100 fell 1.6%
- The Dow Jones slipped 0.3%
- The Russell 2000 lost 0.5%.
Reflecting the sudden shift in sentiment, the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX)—the market's fear gauge—rallied over 10%, on pace for its best session in two weeks.
Sector performance told the story of a divided market. Energy was the clear winner, rising 0.8%, while technology led the declines with a 2% drop. Financials managed a modest 0.4% gain, while materials fell 0.8%.
In the commodities space, gold was up 0.3% to $5,180 per ounce, but silver fell sharply, down 2.8% to $86 an ounce. Crude oil rose 1.3% to $66.5 a barrel. Over in crypto, Bitcoin (BTC) gave back some of its recent gains, slumping 1.9% to $66,775.
How Major Markets and ETFs Fared
The midday snapshot showed a sea of red for major indices and their corresponding exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
| Major Indices | Price | % Change |
|---|---|---|
| Nasdaq 100 | 24,926.80 | -1.6% |
| S&P 500 | 6,884.03 | -0.9% |
| Dow Jones | 49,352.23 | -0.3% |
| Russell 2000 | 2,649.22 | -0.5% |
Data as of 12:00 p.m. ET
Looking at the ETF proxies for these indices:
- The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO) fell 1.01% to $631.11.
- The SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average (DIA) fell 0.37% to $492.98.
- The tech-heavy Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) fell 1.61% to $606.75.
- The iShares Russell 2000 ETF (IWM) traded 0.59% lower to $263.02.
- Sector-wise, the Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLK) lagged, down 2.0%, while the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLE) outperformed, up 0.8%.
