What Happened?
A number of stocks jumped in the afternoon session after renewed enthusiasm for Alphabet reinvigorated the artificial intelligence trade, propelling a market rebound heading into the Thanksgiving holiday.
The Nasdaq index jumped 2.6% and the S&P 500 gained 1.6%, driven by a 5% rally in Alphabet following the announcement of its upgraded Gemini 3 AI model. This optimism spilled over into the broader tech sector, lifting shares of Broadcom, Micron, and Palantir significantly. The rally built on momentum from the previous trading session, sparked by the New York Fed president keeping the door open for a December interest rate cut.
The stock market overreacts to news, and big price drops can present good opportunities to buy high-quality stocks.
Among others, the following stocks were impacted:
- Specialized Technology company Mirion (NYSE: MIR) jumped 4.4%. Is now the time to buy Mirion? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free for active Edge members.
- Government & Technical Consulting company Jacobs Solutions (NYSE: J) jumped 3%. Is now the time to buy Jacobs Solutions? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free for active Edge members.
- Data & Business Process Services company Planet Labs (NYSE: PL) jumped 2.6%. Is now the time to buy Planet Labs? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free for active Edge members.
- Hardware & Infrastructure company Dell (NYSE: DELL) jumped 3.9%. Is now the time to buy Dell? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free for active Edge members.
- Hardware & Infrastructure company IonQ (NYSE: IONQ) jumped 11.2%. Is now the time to buy IonQ? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free for active Edge members.
Zooming In On IonQ (IONQ)
IonQ’s shares are extremely volatile and have had 102 moves greater than 5% over the last year. But moves this big are rare even for IonQ and indicate this news significantly impacted the market’s perception of the business.
The previous big move we wrote about was 4 days ago when the stock dropped 12.8% on the news that markets faded the Nvidia rally in the morning session, as investors remained uncertain about future rate cuts.
While the trading day began with significant enthusiasm, pushing the Dow Jones Industrial Average up more than 700 points and the Nasdaq Composite up 2.6%, momentum quickly evaporated as the session wore on. The primary catalyst for this sharp reversal was a stronger-than-expected jobs report, which reduced the implied odds of a December interest rate cut to less than 40%. This macroeconomic anxiety overshadowed stellar corporate performance. Nvidia initially surged 5% on blockbuster earnings and CEO Jensen Huang's bullish outlook on "off the charts" demand for Blackwell chips. However, the stock eventually turned negative, acting as a heavy weight that dragged the broader indices into the red. The sell-off partly reflects a deepening caution regarding high-flying tech valuations in a "higher-for-longer" rate environment.
Consequently, investors appeared to rotate capital away from volatile growth sectors and toward defensive staples, evidenced by Walmart's 6% gain following its own earnings beat. Ultimately, the market could not sustain the morning's euphoria, as traders prioritized rate realities over AI potential.
IonQ is up 10.5% since the beginning of the year, but at $47.63 per share, it is still trading 42% below its 52-week high of $82.09 from October 2025. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of IonQ’s shares at the IPO in January 2021 would now be looking at an investment worth $4,410.
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