U.S. stock index futures rebounded on Friday, November 6, 2026, as investors bought the dip in battered technology shares following a punishing sell-off that plunged the Nasdaq Composite into correction territory. The recovery attempt came as the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that employers added 165,000 jobs in October, beating consensus expectations and easing immediate fears of an economic slowdown.
The stabilization in premarket trading followed a brutal Thursday session that marked Wall Street’s steepest one-day losses since April 2025. During Thursday’s rout, the Nasdaq Composite tumbled 5.5% to close more than 10% below its most recent high, officially entering a correction. The broad-market S&P 500 lost 4.4% to close at 7,353.73, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell more than 1,800 points, or 3.4%, to 51,523.06. All 11 sectors in the S&P 500 finished lower, led downward by companies tied to artificial intelligence infrastructure build-outs.
Markets Suffer Heavy Losses as Semiconductor Index Plunges
Thursday’s heavy selling hit U.S. markets hard, sending the three major stock averages to their worst one-day losses since April 2025. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index plunged 12.2% as investors questioned the pace, financing, and regulatory future of the artificial intelligence infrastructure boom.
The market repricing was accelerated by political developments following Democratic victories in both chambers of Congress and key state races. Top Democrats have renewed calls to curb data center expansions. Governor-Elect Gina Hinojosa of Texas, representing a critical data center hub, addressed the issue in a CNN interview on Thursday evening, stating: We will have laws to protect Texans, and we need to stop what we are doing with data centers until we have those protections. Voter-backed restrictions and proposed construction moratoriums have heightened risks that projects will face delays in generating revenue, cascading through supply chains that supply chips, memory, and storage.
Technology Futures Attempt Recovery While Dow Remains Pressured
By Friday morning, technology futures attempted a recovery. Nasdaq 100 futures bounced by 1.33% to 27,108.50, and S&P 500 futures rose 0.12% to 7,391.50. Meanwhile, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures remained under pressure, down 0.98% at 51,111, held back by rising Treasury yields in the wake of the strong employment data.
Individual semiconductor and storage equities clawed back a portion of their previous session’s losses during premarket sessions: Nvidia (Nasdaq: NVDA) rose about 4.1% to $189.00 after dropping 9% a day earlier; Advanced Micro Devices (Nasdaq: AMD) gained about 8.5% to $438.74 following a steep slide; Micron Technology (Nasdaq: MU) advanced about 6.2% to $697.26; SanDisk (Nasdaq: SNDK) climbed about 9.5% to $882.95; and Lam Research (Nasdaq: LRCX) surged 13.6% to $210.46.
Lam Research provided an additional catalyst for buyers by announcing a board authorization for up to $25 billion in share repurchases. The semiconductor-equipment maker also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.33 a share, payable on January 6 to shareholders of record on December 2.
Bureau of Labor Statistics Releases October Employment Numbers
The October employment numbers released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics offered mixed signals for monetary policy. Nonfarm payrolls increased by 165,000, easily outpacing the 59,000 gain anticipated by economists polled by Dow Jones. The national unemployment rate ticked down from 4.2% in September to 4.1%.
Upward revisions to prior months further strengthened the economic picture: August payroll gains were revised up to 186,000 from 133,000, and September’s increase was lifted to 60,000 from 29,000, accounting for a combined upward revision of 84,000 jobs. Average hourly earnings rose 0.4% over the month to $38.00, standing 3.1% higher than a year earlier.
Global Markets Reflect Continuing Volatility
The turbulence in U.S. equities rippled through international markets ahead of the payroll release. In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei and South Korea’s Kospi both closed approximately 6% lower. South Korea’s exchange briefly halted trading after experiencing an early drop of more than 8%, showing lingering pressure on overseas technology suppliers despite the tentative overnight stabilization in U.S. futures.
Earlier coverage: Nasdaq Plummets 3.3% on Tech Sell-Off
