Nov 14
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Markets · Markets

Nasdaq falls 2% on Friday in worst week since June

Selling in artificial-intelligence stocks and pressure from oil prices weighed on equities, while Wells Fargo warned of tighter financial conditions and risks in longer-maturity bonds.

By Sera Wyclen · 3 min read

Nasdaq falls 2% on Friday in worst week since June
Illustration · The United Times

The Nasdaq fell 2% on Friday, ending its worst week since June as selling in artificial-intelligence stocks and pressure from oil prices weighed on shares. The market report also included a warning from Wells Fargo about longer-term borrowing costs, presenting the equity retreat alongside a more cautious outlook for longer-maturity bonds.

The 2% loss measures Friday’s decline, rather than the Nasdaq’s performance over the full week. The weekly result was its weakest since June, although a precise weekly percentage decline was not specified. That distinction matters in assessing the scale of the setback: the daily move provides a concrete measure of Friday’s selling, while the comparison with June places the broader week’s performance in context without establishing the size of its cumulative loss.

Artificial-intelligence shares were one source of pressure. The sell-off contributed to the Nasdaq’s retreat, but the figures do not establish how much of the index’s decline came from AI-related stocks. Nor do they identify individual companies or their losses. The evidence therefore supports a picture of selling in AI shares, rather than a company-by-company explanation or a conclusion about which businesses faced the greatest pressure.

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Oil prices were another factor weighing on stocks, alongside the AI sell-off. The absence of a quoted oil benchmark, price or percentage change limits any assessment of the scale of that pressure. It also leaves the relative importance of oil and technology selling unresolved. Friday’s market performance is best understood as a decline associated with both, rather than one for which the available figures establish a single dominant explanation across all of the selling.

Separate commentary dated October 17, 2026, described inflation as heating up, although no inflation rate or specific data release was identified in the supplied material. That leaves an important distinction between the direction of the inflation concern and its measurable extent. The information points to inflation heating up, but does not support a claim about how far it had risen or how it compared with expectations. The material also does not establish that this commentary describes the same period as the Friday market report, so it cannot establish inflation’s role in that Nasdaq decline.

Wells Fargo’s warning broadened the discussion beyond equities. Darrell Cronk, president of Wells Fargo Investment Institute and chief investment officer of Wealth & Investment Management, said: “Financial conditions are tightening, long-term borrowing costs face upward pressure, and investors are increasingly demanding additional compensation to hold longer-maturity bonds.” His assessment presented a cautious view of the environment for longer-term debt, with attention on both borrowing costs and the compensation investors require for holding bonds with longer maturities.

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That warning was specifically relevant to buying longer-duration bonds; it was not a forecast for the Nasdaq or a stated explanation of Friday’s equity losses. Keeping those conclusions separate avoids treating a bond-market assessment as a prediction about shares. Even so, Cronk’s comments provide another perspective on the investment backdrop: the report of AI selling was accompanied by a warning that longer-maturity debt also required careful consideration, rather than an unqualified recommendation to buy it.

A separate question is whether the retreat is creating opportunities. A fall in prices gives investors a reason to revisit that question, but the information here does not identify particular securities, valuation measures or buying levels that would substantiate an opportunity. The Nasdaq’s 2% decline alone cannot establish which shares, if any, offer an attractive entry point. The opportunity-focused view therefore remains a question for further assessment, set against Wells Fargo’s explicit caution on longer-duration bonds.

The figures also leave the breadth of the equity weakness unresolved. The Nasdaq’s performance and the pressure on AI shares are clear, but no closing levels or returns for other stock indices were specified. It would therefore go beyond the evidence to describe an equally severe decline across the entire market. The strongest conclusion is narrower: the Nasdaq suffered a sharp Friday loss and its weakest week since June, with AI selling and oil prices weighing on stocks.

One question for investors is whether those pressures persist. Related questions include whether AI shares remain under selling pressure, whether oil continues to weigh on equities and whether the upward pressure on long-term borrowing costs described by Cronk intensifies. No specific market forecast accompanies the figures. For now, the clearest markers are the Nasdaq’s 2% Friday decline, its worst weekly performance since June and Wells Fargo’s caution on buying longer-duration bonds.