New York, June 6, 2026, 09:04 EDT
Tech stocks slumped Friday, cutting roughly $1.3 trillion from U.S. chipmakers and snapping the S&P 500’s nine-week streak. The rout struck at the core artificial intelligence trade of 2026. Still, Goldman Sachs and Barclays called the drop a stress test, saying it may not be a lasting trend shift.
Jobs numbers came in better, with the Fed set to meet in less than two weeks and AI stocks pulling in fast money. Kevin Warsh, who took over as Fed chair on May 22, is heading the Fed’s June 16-17 policy meeting, according to the Fed calendar.
U.S. nonfarm payrolls increased by 172,000 in May, the Labor Department said, with unemployment steady at 4.3%. The jobs number, covering positions outside farming and some other sectors, keeps rate-cut hopes uncertain for stock market bulls, as solid hiring can support inflation and slow the Fed on easing.
S&P 500 slid 2.6% to 7,383.74 Friday, and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 4.2% to 25,709.43. The Dow tumbled 695.15 points. It was the worst day for U.S. stocks since October, according to the Associated Press, and broke a 10-week winning streak for the S&P 500.
Semiconductors bore the brunt. Nvidia, Micron Technology and Advanced Micro Devices sold off sharply after Broadcom gave a weak update, according to Reuters. The Philadelphia chip index dropped 10.3%, its biggest single-day fall since March 2020. The index had just hit a record on Wednesday.
“Blindly buying the dip” had paid off, at least up to Friday, Dennis Dick, a proprietary trader at Triple D Trading, told Reuters. Wells Fargo strategist Ohsung Kwon labeled the group “way overbought” but said he doesn’t think this is the end of the semiconductor bull market. Reuters
Goldman traders said they weren’t too worried about crowded positioning. Their composite sentiment gauge, which looks at institutional, retail, and foreign exposure to U.S. equities, came in around 0.2 — basically a neutral read. The team, led by Tom Shea, said in a note that the rally still hasn’t been fully bought into by the wider market.
That’s important because selloffs can snowball when most investors are already positioned the same way. Roundhill Financial CEO Dave Mazza said the rally wasn’t as wild as it seemed. Franklin Templeton’s Max Gokhman said hedge funds were deep in AI, but less exposed in other areas.
John Flood, who runs Americas equity execution services at Goldman, told Bloomberg in comments picked up by Cnyes that he sees the drop as a “healthy” pullback tied to profit-taking and likely new share supply. Flood also said he thinks the S&P 500 can still make it to 8,000 this year. 鉅亨網
Barclays turned cautious. Emmanuel Cau and his team said the rally in AI stocks looks stretched, with the MSCI World Semiconductors Index up about 50% in two months. Support from quick money and CTAs — the trend chasers — is fading, they said.
The chances of a tactical pullback are real, Barclays analysts said. The team wrote it’s “not bearish Semis” but sees a possible pause that could shift money into software, aerospace and defence, luxury, travel and leisure. Investing.com
There’s a supply angle too. Flood said upcoming IPOs from SpaceX and Anthropic are a sign of solid demand. Barclays took the other side, saying big fundraising rounds by tech names could sap liquidity, especially if momentum trades are already stretched.
Dip-buying might hit trouble. Flood pointed to the chance that systematic players like commodity trading advisers and volatility-control funds could turn into sellers if the S&P 500 continues to slide. He also said that a widespread earnings miss would be a stronger red flag. The first test is set for Monday.
