A sharp sell-off on Wall Street
US stock markets suffered their steepest one-day decline in months on Thursday, November 5. The S&P 500 fell 4.4% to close at 7,353.73, its biggest single-day drop since the April 2025 "Liberation Day" tariff announcement.
AI is at the centre
The pullback hit the names that have carried the market this year: chipmakers, cloud providers and the power companies supplying data centres. The retreat raises fresh questions about how much AI infrastructure optimism is already priced in.
Data centre backlash reaches Washington
Behind the sell-off is growing pushback against data centres. According to the report, that backlash has now reached Washington, meaning the issue is no longer confined to local communities but is on the radar of federal policymakers.
What it means for readers
A single day's decline does not mean AI investment is over. But it shows the market is starting to question growth in the sector, and that opposition to data centres is turning into a political issue.
