Market Recap

Nov 20, 2025

U.S. Equity Market Recap

Thursday, November 20, 2025

S&P 500 closed at 6,538.76, down 1.56% (-103 points). Largest single-day reversal since November 13. Now 5.1% below the Oct 28 record close.
Nasdaq Composite fell 2.16% to 22,078.05. Largest intraday swing since April, nearly 1,000 points off session high.
Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 386 points lower (-0.84%) near 45,752 after reversing a 700-point rally.
VIX rose 11% to 26.42, breaching fear levels as volatility spiked.
NYSE decliners outnumbered advancers by 1.59:1; Nasdaq 1.54:1. New lows sharply exceeded new highs on both exchanges.
Trading volume: 17.46 billion shares, below 20-day average.
10-year Treasury yield fell 2.7bps to 4.105% (post-jobs report safe haven bid).

September jobs report: +119,000 jobs vs. +50,000 cons.; unemployment rose to 4.4% (highest since Oct 2021).
Initial jobless claims: 220,000 (beat expectations), but continuing claims at 1.974 million, a four-year high.
Average hourly earnings up 0.2% MoM and 3.8% YoY.
Fed officials express concern over asset price declines, complicating rate cut outlook.

10 of 11 S&P sectors finished negative; only Consumer Staples posted positive returns (defensive rotation confirmed).
Technology -2.2%; Communication Services -1.9%; Consumer Discretionary -1.8%; Energy -1.2%; Financials -1.0%.
Oil (WTI): $59.74/barrel; Brent: $64.11/barrel (down on Russia-Ukraine news).

Nvidia (NVDA): Q3 revenue $57.01B (+62% YoY), EPS $1.30 (+60%), Data center rev $51.2B; raised Q4 guide; stock reversed to close -3.15% after early rally, a turning point for AI sentiment.
Walmart (WMT): Surged +6.46% to $107.11; beat Q3 EPS/revenue, e-commerce +28%, raised FY guide, announced Nasdaq listing transfer.
Bitcoin : Dropped -4.2% to $86,681, lowest since April; down ~30% from Oct peak, heavy put option interest below $90K.
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD): Up 4% pre-market, closed -5% after sector reversal.
Super Micro Computer (SMCI): Up 5% early on new AMD GPU server launch, closed moderately higher; remains 70% below 2024 peak.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSM): Outperformed semis, up 4.7%.
Western Digital (WDC) and Seagate Technology (STX): Fell 6% and 4%, respectively.

Uranium spot: $76.10/lb (-0.26% daily, -1.04% monthly, -4.5% YoY). Large October rally faded after Kazatomprom’s Q3 supply growth.
Nuclear Energy Index closed at 46.47, down 0.24% for the day, up 40% YoY.

Cameco Corporation (CCJ): Fell 4.94% to $81.98 (range $81.71–$89.87); still up 31.7% YTD and 61.4% YoY. Holds 17% global uranium share, benefits from Westinghouse co-ownership and $80B US reactor deal.
Denison Mines Corporation (DNN): Under pressure with uranium selloff; Phoenix ISR remains sector cost/production standout.
NuScale Power (SMR): Only NRC-approved SMR design, new EU deployments.
Oklo Inc. (OKLO): NRC milestone for Aurora fuel facility, sharp equity retracement since October highs.
Centrus Energy Corporation (LEU): Strategic U.S. HALEU producer, high policy sensitivity.
Kazatomprom: Q3 exports +33%, total output +10%; near-term supplies improved, pricing under pressure.

AI infrastructure capital expenditure risk now a key market theme; $1T+ in projected spending faces scrutiny after Nvidia’s reversal.
Defensive rotation accelerating, with Consumer Staples and Treasuries outperforming.
Fed rate cut expectations muddied by both resilient jobs growth and higher unemployment.
Nuclear equity outperformance faces supply/price volatility risk near-term but retains strong multi-year fundamental tailwinds.

Nasdaq posted largest “blown lead” since April tariff selloff.
S&P 500 broke below its 50-day moving average.
Equity put/call ratio at 0.63; SPX put/call 1.25 indicating mild risk-off (but not panic).
Bitcoin options market strongly hedged for downside.
Volume patterns point to institutional distribution.