CNN reports that a stunning $2.5 trillion was wiped off the value of the tech-heavy Nasdaq on Thursday as investors rushed to dump technology stocks.

According to shattered.io, citing DW, the damage was global: the Nasdaq 100 fell 6.36% to 26,629.81, erasing roughly $2.3 trillion of value, while the S&P 500 dropped about 4% and the Nasdaq composite lost about 5.5%.

shattered.io's tally of market coverage puts Nvidia down 9.3%, Tesla down 10.8%, and SpaceX down 9.1% in a single session. The market's own numbers show how concentrated the AI trade had become — chip and infrastructure names absorbed the sharpest blows.

The whipsaw was striking. CNN notes that futures initially fell when election results came in late Tuesday night, but by Wednesday morning Wall Street had rallied as investors cheered Democrats' gains.

By Thursday, that optimism had inverted into fear that the new political leverage could bring tighter regulation and rein in the AI buildout.

shattered.io describes the same sentiment shift: the election outcome was read as the potential end of the Trump administration's deregulatory posture on AI, even though no bill, order, or agency action had been cited.

The market moved on expectation alone, repricing a decade-long capital-spending story in hours.

According to CNN, a second force made the sell-off more brutal: investors who had borrowed heavily to bet on the boom were under pressure to sell.

Hedge funds that use leverage face demands from lenders or brokers for more cash or collateral when their holdings drop, and if they cannot meet those calls they must sell stock — pushing prices lower and setting off a vicious cycle of more selling.

Jamie Cox, managing partner at Harris Financial Group, told CNN the funds 'have gotten way over their skis and leverage,' and stressed that Thursday's moves were 'not indicative of a crash or any type of impending disaster.'

Politics hit the AI supply chain at both ends.

CNN points to Texas, where Democratic Gov.-elect Gina Hinojosa campaigned on temporarily halting new data center construction and rolling back certain tax incentives for companies building them — pledges now feeding investor concerns about the future of the AI boom.

shattered.io, citing DW, adds that regional ballot measures sought to halt or restrict further AI data center construction, and that because chip makers sell into data center build-outs, a slower pipeline of new sites makes accelerator order books look less certain — the link that helps explain Nvidia's outsized loss.

KuCoin reports the global crypto market has lost more than $180 billion since the start of November, falling to $2.64 trillion, with Democrats' midterm wins raising fears of stricter crypto rules.

Bitcoin fell below $75,000 after hitting $81,000, and analyst Ali Martinez says the key level is the middle of a wide channel near $73,000 — lose it, and the decline could extend toward $60,000.

KuCoin also reports Ethereum breaking below $2,385 support with a possible slide toward $1,963, and XRP weakening past $1.29 with $0.99 as the next major support, underscoring how risk appetite is cracking across both equities and digital assets.

CNN quotes Jamie Cox predicting that 'a day or two from now, people will realize that this isn't the end,' arguing companies will pour more money into expanding the capacity of existing data centers instead.

Still, he warns the hedge-fund-driven selling could take another few days to fully run its course, adding pressure even if the political shock fades.

shattered.io cites Invesco Chief Global Market Strategist Brian Levitt saying 'the massive expansion of artificial intelligence is heading for a correction' — a reset in the buildout itself, not an ending.

The bigger lesson, per CNN: the more investors borrow to bet on the boom, the more painful the fallout when confidence cracks.