These 10 Stocks Were Wednesday’s Worst Performers

Page 1 of 9

The stock market declined on Wednesday, with all major indices finishing in the red, driven by losses in technology stocks.

The Nasdaq dropped 0.51%, while the S&P 500 and Dow Jones fell 0.47% and 0.31%, respectively.

Ten companies, mostly from the technology sector, led the downturn.  In this article, we will highlight the biggest decliners and examine the factors driving their performance.

To identify Wednesday’s biggest losers, we focused on stocks with a market capitalization of at least $2 billion and a daily trading volume of over $5 million.

Stock market reports are printed on a sheet of paper. Photo by RDNE Stock Project on Pexels

10. Palo Alto Networks Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Cybersecurity firm Palo Alto saw its share prices decrease by 3.9 percent on Wednesday to close at $185.42 apiece as investors sold off positions following news that the US Department of Homeland Security announced plans to cut funds in the agency.

According to former South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, who will lead the department under the Trump administration, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has gotten far off its mission.

“They are using their resources in ways that were never intended. The misinformation and disinformation that they have stuck their toe into and meddled with should be refocused back onto what their job is,” Noem said.

Palo Alto, a cybersecurity company with deep connections to the government and public sector contracts, stands to be negatively hurt by any potential funding cuts, as such reductions would likely result in smaller, less profitable contracts with government agencies.

9. Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA)

Technology giant Nvidia Corp. fell anew on Wednesday, losing another 4.1 percent to finish at $123.7 apiece, as investors sold off positions while continuing to digest China’s new cost-effective artificial intelligence called DeepSeek.

Nvidia, a key player in powering OpenAI’s ChatGPT with its high-performance GPUs essential for training deep learning models, saw its valuation plunge by nearly $600 billion on Monday. The dramatic drop followed reports that DeepSeek, a new competitor, had been developed using inexpensive alternatives for just $5 million—far less than the $100 million OpenAI invested in training its model.

The news became a low blow to Nvidia and OpenAI, at a time when the US government is set to spend billions of dollars to bolster AI development in the country.

During his inauguration earlier this month, President Donald Trump announced a $500-billion investment in an AI infrastructure among companies namely OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank.

Page 1 of 9