The AI Sell-Off Compared to Well-Known Stock Market Crashes: S&P 500 vs 1987, 2008 and Covid | Company Atlas

The S&P 500 closed 6% below its record on November 6, 2026, a modest pullback by historical standards, as only 16 of 56 slides reaching 6% since 1928 went on to exceed 15%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq has fallen 11%, while U.S. chip stocks tracked by the PHLX Semiconductor index are down 36% from their June 22 record, matching the depth of their Covid-era decline. The divergence matters because semiconductor shares have historically taken far longer to recover, with chip stocks needing 18 years to regain their dot-com peak versus seven years for the S&P 500. Investors will watch whether the current 23-trading-day slide stays in mild territory or joins the 16 past episodes that deepened past 15%, with the chip sector's recovery timeline the key gauge of tech-led damage.