Nasdaq rebounds after steep Wall Street sell-off

The Nasdaq rose 1.4% shortly after Wall Street opened on Friday, a day after suffering its biggest one-day fall since April last year. The S&P 500 also edged higher, while the Dow Jones continued to decline, according to ANP.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq stood at 24,661 points, ANP reported. It had plunged 5.5% on Thursday as investors sold technology shares, particularly chipmakers. The report linked the sell-off to fears that a Democratic majority in Congress could bring tighter rules for artificial intelligence and slow construction of AI data centres.

The S&P 500 gained 0.6% to 7,397 points after falling more than 4% on Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.7% to 51,182, following a drop of more than 3% the previous day.

Investors bought chip shares on Friday after Thursday’s sharp losses. The scale of the sell-off had been striking: more than $2.5 trillion was wiped from the value of US technology companies, including more than $1 trillion from the seven companies known as the Magnificent Seven. Nvidia lost more than $440 billion in market value, ANP reported.

Tesla rose 3% after losing nearly 11% on Thursday. SpaceX gained nearly 7%. Airbnb climbed more than 10% after raising its revenue forecast, citing continued strong demand for accommodation. Moderna rose 2% after better-than-expected results, while Under Armour fell 3.7% following disappointing results.