S&P 500 Falls for a Third Day to 7,541 While the Dow Gains 213 Points as Money Leaves Tech on the Eve of the Midterms
Monday's split tape saw the Nasdaq lose 1.1 percent on AI-spending doubts and a $115 billion chip deal, while airlines, cruise lines and the Dow rose on a 7 percent drop in oil.
Monday, November 2, 2026/2 min read
Wall Street started November the way it ended October: with technology selling and everything else holding up. The S&P 500 closed down 38.67 points, or 0.5 percent, at 7,541.40, its third straight loss, while the Nasdaq fell 272.68 points, 1.1 percent, to 25,164.32. The Dow went the other way, up 213.67 points, 0.4 percent, to 51,983.98, and the Russell 2000 slipped 0.2 percent to 2,805.88, the Associated Press tally showed.
The Nasdaq had been up as much as 1.4 percent in the morning before investors moved money out of tech in the afternoon. The index lost about 5.3 percent in October, STL.News noted, and the question that drove last week's Alphabet, Amazon and Intel sell-offs, whether the AI buildout will ever pay for itself, has not gone away.
Why did the Nasdaq fall while the Dow rose?
Chips and oil. Marvell agreed to buy Lumentum in an all-stock deal valued at about $115 billion, expected to close in the first half of 2028, and both halves of the deal sold off: Marvell closed down 12.7 percent and Lumentum 18.6 percent, according to STL.News. Nvidia gave up an early 2.6 percent gain to close 1.3 percent lower, and Oracle declined after announcing plans to raise about $20 billion in debt and equity. Alphabet lost 0.3 percent. Apple fell about 1.5 percent during the regular session ahead of its results after the bell.
On the other side, Brent crude fell about 7.6 percent to $104.77 on signs of US-Iran diplomatic progress, which lifted fuel-sensitive businesses. United Airlines rose 4.8 percent, Carnival 4.2 percent and Southwest 3.6 percent, while Amazon added about 2.2 percent and Tesla about 1 percent. Oil producers fell with the price of crude.
What did the economic data say?
Manufacturing is doing better than the stock market. The ISM manufacturing index rose to 55.5 from 54.5, above expectations, and its prices index eased to 75.2 from 77.9, STL.News reported. Longer-term Treasury yields moved lower, which is what you would expect with oil down 7 percent and inflation worries easing for a day.
For the year, the picture is still green. The S&P 500 is up 10.2 percent in 2026, the Dow 8.2 percent, the Nasdaq 8.3 percent and the Russell 2000 13.1 percent, on the AP's figures. But Monday's close is the S&P 500's lowest since July, and we covered last Thursday's record Alphabet drawdown and Friday's Intel slump as the reasons it got there.
What is on the calendar this week?
Tuesday is the midterm election, with control of both chambers of Congress on the ballot and investors positioning for whatever the result does to tax, tariff and spending expectations. AMD reports on Tuesday, Apple's numbers landed after Monday's close, and the October jobs report comes on Friday, 6 November, STL.News noted. A market that has sold tech for four sessions and bought everything else will need the earnings to make the case the AI capex is worth it, and it will need the election to pass without the counting disputes already being litigated in Alaska and California.
Published in The Outspoken Digest
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