The Nasdaq rose 1.09 percent on Friday as chip stocks bounced back from the rout that had erased trillions in value a day earlier, but the recovery was only partial, and the week still ended as Wall Street worst since June. The Nasdaq Composite closed at 24,579.42, up 264.43 points, and the S and P 500 gained 0.31 percent to 7,376.86. The Dow Jones Industrial Average went the other way, falling 0.46 percent to 51,285.73, down 237.33 points, in a split that held from the opening bell to the close.
Why it matters
The bounce was led by the same chip stocks that had led the fall. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index gained 4.2 percent, recovering about a third of Thursday 12.2 percent plunge, its biggest one day drop since April 2025. Nvidia rose nearly 3 percent after its worst day since January 2025, while AMD surged 11.04 percent, Intel gained more than 7 percent, and Micron climbed 5.12 percent. Tesla rose 4.18 percent and SpaceX gained more than 8 percent, adding about 144.6 billion dollars in market value overnight.
The week totals tell the fuller story. The S and P 500 lost about 2.7 percent for the week, the Nasdaq dropped 3.4 percent for a fourth straight weekly decline, and the Dow lost about 0.9 percent. Thursday rout had put the Nasdaq more than 10 percent below its record, which puts it in a stock market correction, and Friday buying recovered only a fraction of what was lost. The Russell 2000, which tracks smaller companies, gained 0.9 percent on Friday to 2,754.11, but it too ended the week lower.
What happens next
Two forces pulled the market in opposite directions on Friday. The chip rebound was driven by bargain hunting, with investors deciding that Thursday selling had gone too far, and by a research note from Jefferies describing the selloff as reactionary rather than a fundamental reset. The stronger than expected jobs report pulled the other way, lifting Treasury yields and the dollar and raising the odds of a December rate increase, which is bad news for stocks that depend on cheap money. The split close, Nasdaq up and Dow down, is the market trying to hold both ideas at once.
What happens next will be decided by data, starting with the October consumer price report on Tuesday, November 10, the last inflation reading before the Federal Reserve December 8 and 9 meeting. A hot inflation number would strengthen the case for a rate hike and could send stocks lower again, while a cool one would let the bounce continue. For now, Friday showed that buyers are willing to step in, but not yet willing to chase.
