US stocks plunge as Democrat wins threaten AI boom

Wall Street suffered its worst sell-off since Donald Trump’s tariff rollout on Thursday, with the Nasdaq 100 plunging over 6pc, as investor panic grew over a Democrat midterm victory potentially derailing the AI boom. Semiconductor makers were hardest hit, with Nvidia falling over 6pc, AMD dropping 13pc, and Micron down 11pc. The decline follows Democrat wins in former Republican states, where some officials have backed moratoriums on data centres, signalling a possible slowdown in chip demand. Tesla plunged 10pc and SpaceX fell 9pc, while European markets rose as investors shifted to traditional industries. Analysts cited evaporating Middle East war concerns but fragile sentiment around the AI trade amid expected data centre build-out slowdowns.