Nasdaq Rebounds 1.09%, VIX Falls to 25.64: Closing Notes for Friday

Friday, November 6, 2026: a day after the worst session for U.S. stocks since April 2025, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 clawed back part of the damage as chip stocks bounced, while the Dow finished lower. A much stronger October jobs report than expected pushed Treasury yields up. The VIX fell but stayed well above where it started the week, and every major index still closed the week lower.

How the session closed

• Indexes. The S&P 500 rose 23.13 points, or 0.31%, to 7,376.86. The Nasdaq Composite gained 264.43 points, or 1.09%, to 24,579.42. The Dow fell 237.33 points, or 0.46%, to 51,285.73. The Russell 2000 added 24.22 points, or 0.89%, to 2,754.11 (Yahoo Finance, AP). The Nasdaq-100 rose 1.35% to 26,989.99 (Nasdaq.com).
• The week. The S&P 500 lost 2.7% for the week, the Nasdaq 3.4%, the Russell 2000 2.1% and the Dow 0.9% (AP).
• Why. Buyers stepped back into the chip and AI names that led Thursday’s sell-off, which had been tied to the Democratic sweep and worries about tougher rules and costs for data centers and AI spending (Yahoo Finance, StockTitan). The strong jobs report lifted yields, which weighed on the Dow (StockTitan).
• Chips. At the close, AMD rose 11.04%, Intel 7.71%, Marvell 5.73%, Qualcomm 5.52%, Micron 5.12%, Arm 4.74%, Nvidia 2.78% and Broadcom 0.74% (StockTitan closing table). Lam Research gained 8.23%.
• Other big moves. Airbnb rose 11.67% after Thursday evening’s results, and IREN 20.02%. Gogo jumped 71.52%, Firefly Aerospace 36.80% and JFrog 35.33%. On the downside, iRhythm fell 30.70%, Opendoor 21.79%, DraftKings 21.30%, Axon 18.18%, Five9 17.63% and Atlassian 16.15% (StockTitan, 4:00 p.m. ET closes against Thursday’s close).
• Jobs report. The economy added 165,000 jobs in October, and the unemployment rate was 4.1% against 4.2% expected (Labor Department, via StockTitan and Yahoo Finance). The payrolls consensus varies by survey: 59,000 per Dow Jones (cited by CNBC via StockTitan) and 65,000 in Yahoo Finance’s coverage. On any of those, the print was well above expectations.
• VIX. 25.64, down 2.54 points or 9.01%, last at 4:15 p.m. ET (CNBC, Yahoo Finance). Its 52-week range is 13.38 to 35.30 (CNBC).
• Yields. The 10-year Treasury yield was 4.859%, up 0.022, at 5:05 p.m. ET (CNBC, Yahoo Finance). Yields rose after the jobs report (StockTitan).
• Oil. WTI December crude was at $90.47, down $0.05, and Brent traded back below $100 a barrel (Yahoo Finance).

What it means for options traders

Realized came in far below implied. Thursday’s 28.18 VIX worked out to about 1.76% a day on the divide-by-16 shortcut. The S&P 500 moved 0.31%. One quiet day after a violent one is normal, and it is the pattern that slowly pulls implied volatility back down. Friday’s 25.64 still implies about 1.6% a day, which sits in the upper half of its 52-week range.

Calm index, loud single stocks. The S&P 500 barely moved, yet many single names swung 15% to 30% or more. When stocks move hard in different directions, index volatility tends to stay below the average volatility of its members. That gap is why options on single names can price far wider moves than index options at the same time, and why a calm index day does not mean calm single-name premiums.

The calendar ahead. As our Thursday notes said, October CPI is due next Tuesday. A known event inside one expiration but not the next lifts the implied volatility of the expiration that contains it. That changes how calendar spreads price the gap between expirations, and it usually comes out of the front month once the number is out. With the VIX still elevated after this week’s swings, the front of the curve is where most of the pricing change tends to show up.

Sources

• Yahoo Finance, Stock market today: Nasdaq and S&P 500 rebound, Dow slips (close quotes, VIX, 10-year, WTI, jobs report, Brent).
• AP via Yahoo Finance, How major US stock indexes fared Friday 11/6/2026 (closes, weekly changes).
• Nasdaq.com, Market Activity (Composite and Nasdaq-100, data as of 5:13 p.m. ET).
• CNBC quote pages, at about 5:15–5:30 p.m. ET: VIX, 10-year.
• StockTitan, Stock Market Today, November 6, 2026 (closing tables for movers and chips, jobs report with CNBC’s Dow Jones consensus).
• Thursday’s Closing Notes (prior closes, CPI date).

Related reading

• Trading Calendars by Simon Hertz, available on Amazon.
• Trading Verticals by Simon Hertz, available on Amazon.
• Trading 0DTE Spreads by Simon Hertz, available on Amazon.
• All titles: Simon Hertz author page on Amazon.

This post is for education only. It is not investment advice or a recommendation to buy or sell any security or option. Options involve risk and are not suitable for all investors. Figures are from the sources listed and may be revised; check primary sources before relying on any number.