A sell-off like Friday's is ‘rarely the top’ of a rally, says Wharton’s Jeremy Siegel

Esteemed finance professor Jeremy Siegel called Friday's sell-off in the technology sector a common reaction to a parabolic rise in stock prices. But he was also optimistic that such a pullback usually doesn't signal the beginning of a prolonged correction. "One of the oldest sayings in Wall Street is up the staircase, down the elevator, and that's exactly what happened," Siegel, professor emeritus of finance at University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business and WisdomTree chief economist, said on CNBC's " Closing Bell " on Friday afternoon. "When you have these super moves like we've seen in the chip stocks, the memory stocks, the trend followers, the momentum players … whenever it goes off the trend, they're out because they're just riding that train, and that's what we see today," he said. All three major averages logged losses this week , with Nasdaq's 4.7% decline, its worst weekly showing since April 4, 2025. Still, even with this pullback, the Nasdaq has tallied a 10.6% gain in 2026. As Siegel mentioned, semiconductor stocks have been a big winner this year, with the VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) rising 58% year to date, but it suffered a nearly 5% drop this week. Friday's 9.2% drop was its worst one-day move since Jan. 27, 2025. The iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX) on Friday saw its worst day since March 16, 2020. Year to date, SOXX is up more than 79%. But Siegel said such big moves aren't out of the ordinary. "Now, that's rarely the top," he said. …