Wall Street's sharp reversal on Thursday spilled into digital assets, pushing Bitcoin below $76,000 and erasing its post-election recovery. The S&P 500 plunged as much as 3.8%, raising concerns that a further slide to 7,150.41 points would trigger the first market-wide circuit breaker and temporarily halt U.S. stock trading for 15 minutes. The next halt levels were 6,689.09 points for a 13% drop and 6,150.89 points for a 20% drop, which would close trading for the day.
The selloff came just one day after former President Donald Trump highlighted record highs. On Wednesday, the S&P 500 gained 1.6% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped more than 1,500 points to 53,361 points after Democratic midterm victories, but Thursday's losses erased that rally in a single session. The Nasdaq Composite fell nearly 5%, while Nvidia lost more than 6% and the broader semiconductor index plunged nearly 11% as investors assessed potential scrutiny of AI data-center buildouts.
In crypto derivatives, approximately $428 million in leveraged long positions were liquidated within an hour, according to Decrypt. Traders were also watching inflation pressures and the Federal Reserve's next interest-rate decision ahead of Friday's employment report. Swissquote Bank senior analyst Ipek Ozkardeskaya told Reuters, "We suspect there is going to be some scrutiny on this aggressive AI buildout."
