S&P 500 Falls 3.8% on Thursday, Nears Market-Wide Trading Halt as Chip Stocks Crash

The S&P 500 dropped as much as 3.8% on Thursday as chip stocks crashed, coming within 3.3% of a market-wide circuit breaker that would freeze all U.S. stocks for 15 minutes. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index fell 10.2%, driven by investor concerns over slower data-center growth after Democrats won Congress.