On Friday, U.S. stocks whipsawed after a sharp early selloff, reflecting nerves over Federal Reserve policy, frothy tech valuations and the return of key economic data after the shutdown. The Nasdaq is down about 3.5% so far in November and has lost roughly $1.74 trillion in market value in two weeks, even as dip-buyers pushed it slightly higher into Friday’s close, according to market data from CNN.
Investors are reassessing richly priced AI and Big Tech names after months of outperformance. Oracle, which spiked 36% in September on a $300 billion OpenAI deal, has since given up those gains, while Meta, Nvidia and Palantir are all off recent highs as investors question whether huge AI-related capital spending will translate into profits. Bitcoin has slid about 25% from its October peak, signaling a broader pullback in risk appetite.
Rate expectations are adding to the tension. Following a two-meeting cutting cycle in September and October, futures now imply roughly even odds of another Fed cut in December, down from near-certainty a month ago. Fed officials, including voting members such as Boston Fed President Susan Collins, have signaled caution, while a six-week blackout in official data has left policymakers and traders effectively guessing about the economy’s true momentum.
Globally, stocks in Asia also lost ground at week’s end as doubts about a December Fed cut and stretched tech valuations weighed on sentiment, Bloomberg reported. The S&P 500 is now on track for its worst November since the Great Recession, and earlier in the fall its forward P/E briefly exceeded 23, a level seen only once in the past 25 years. That combination of elevated valuations, sticky inflation and tariff-driven uncertainty has some strategists warning that a deeper correction or even a bear market is possible if economic data continue to deteriorate.
