Stocks sold off sharply Thursday as an AI and chip-stock rout wiped out the post-election rally. Intraday, the Nasdaq was down about 5%, the S&P 500 roughly 3% to 4%, and the Dow more than 1,100 points, with Nvidia down 6% to 8% and Tesla down more than 9%, according to Yahoo Finance and Bloomberg. For collectors, the question is whether the tech and AI wealth that has supported the top of the market starts to pull back.
Why the top of the market feels it first
Hagerty compared stock market performance from late July to the first day of Monterey sales against total Monterey auction sales over ten years and found a 0.77 correlation. The link to sell-through, the share of offered cars that actually sell, was only 0.27. In other words, equity wealth shows up more in how much gets spent than in whether cars sell. Our earlier look at that data is in Wall Street Wobbles After the Midterms.
What 2020 and 2022 suggest
Past drops did not hit every segment equally. In 2020, Hagerty’s Ferrari Index fell about 8% between January and May, its largest drop ever, while its Affordable Classics index reached an all-time high by September. In the 2022 to 2023 cooldown, Hagerty’s Market Rating fell six straight months through March 2023 and inflation-adjusted median prices returned to pre-pandemic-boom levels, yet its Blue Chip Index barely moved.
The pattern is that a falling market is not one market. Watch the segment you care about, not the headline index.
Where buyers may find openings
Softer bidding and sellers who need cash can create openings below $100,000, though not overnight. Hagerty’s 2026 Bull Market List, published before this selloff, includes several modern cars in that range, at Hagerty’s #2 condition values:
- 2006 to 2013 Chevrolet Corvette Z06: $55,900
- 2006 to 2010 BMW M5: $36,000
- 1995 to 1998 Nissan Skyline GT-R: $82,350
- 1995 to 1998 Volkswagen Golf GTI VR6: $20,000
- 1999 to 2005 Mazda MX-5 Miata: $16,600
These are Hagerty’s values and picks, not forecasts that prices will fall. Treat them as a watch list.
What to watch next
The first sign of stress is likely to show up in sell-through rates and estimates at the next major auctions, not in a sudden price collapse. Compare median sale prices instead of headline averages, since records at the top can hide weakness in everyday collectibles. A drop in the Hagerty Market Rating below 50 would signal a more meaningful shift.
What not to do
Do not sell a car you love because of one red day. Do not stretch financing on a weekend car. And do not buy a car as a stand-in for stocks: condition, documentation and originality still set the price. Market figures above are intraday and may change by the close. This article is general information and not financial advice.
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Shawn Henry 
Eve Nowell