Trump Blames Democratic Win for $3 Trillion Stock Market Loss
President Donald Trump said the Democratic midterm victory caused a one-day, $3 trillion stock market loss. The Nasdaq had its sharpest one-day fall since April 2025, as investors feared tighter AI oversight. A market commentator called the selloff more technical than fundamental.
US President Donald Trump blamed the Democratic midterm election victory for a one-day stock market loss he put at $3 trillion. The selloff hit US equities on Thursday, November 5, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq recorded its sharpest one-day decline since the "Liberation Day" selloff in April 2025.
Trump made the claim in a post on Truth Social. "America took a giant step back in History with the results of the last Election," he wrote.
He said the stock market, which he called a "ROCKETSHIP" under "TRUMP," "took a one day, 3 Trillion Dollar loss." He then added: "But have no fear, we will be back, BIGGER AND STRONGER THAN EVER BEFORE!" He did not elaborate.
Investors had worried that a Democratic win would slow the buildout of artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure.
Why investors sold
Democrats captured both chambers of Congress on November 3. They flipped multiple Senate seats, House districts, governorships and state legislative chambers.
Investors feared that a Democratic-controlled Congress and newly elected state officials could push for tighter AI oversight and restrictions on data center development. That concern landed on an AI trade already under pressure from the mounting cost of the buildout.
Markets did not fall at once. The Kobeissi Letter, a market commentator, said stocks added more than $1.2 trillion in market capitalization on their first trading day after the midterms. That gain reversed shortly afterward.
How the funds moved
Since early election results were announced on November 3, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) has lost about 2.7% of its value. The Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ), which tracks the Nasdaq, has lost nearly 5%. The SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust (DIA) has edged about 1% lower.
The Kobeissi Letter said in a post on X that the crash could not be blamed solely on the election, because markets had largely priced in the outcome. It pointed to Democratic lawmakers who, it said, had publicly called for restrictions on advanced AI development, including an outright "ban on artificial superintelligence."
The commentator said it considered a full ban unlikely. Such a move would effectively mean the US was surrendering its position in the global AI race to China, it said.
It described the selloff as a "sudden shift in sentiment colliding with excessive levels of leverage," which could trigger forced liquidations by several major institutional investors. "Therefore, today's downturn is more technical than fundamental," it said.
It added that the regulatory concerns are "legitimate," but that price action "does not look orderly or rational." Its advice to investors: "Zoom out and remain calm."
On the Stocktwits platform, retail sentiment on SPY and QQQ was bearish at the time of writing, while sentiment on DIA was bullish.
