It was a Friday full of bruising losses for tech trading.
The Nasdaq 100 lost more than 3% to end October with its worst monthly loss since March 2025. The technology index lost 6.7% for the week, losing more than 7% for the month.
Friday’s losses were triggered by Amazon and Intel, which plunged after Thursday’s close as the two tech giants disappointed investors with their third-quarter results and reignited fears that the AI business was headed for a slowdown.
Amazon fell as much as 7% before paring its biggest losses to end the session down 1.75%. The retail giant reported lower-than-expected earnings per share and revenue for the third quarter. The company also reported negative cash flow of $7.6 billion for the second consecutive quarter, which it said was due to its increased spending on AI. CEO Andy Jassy said the company expected it to continue to “spend a lot more” next year.
Meanwhile, Intel shares fell 29%. The hardware maker beat earnings and revenue but issued weak fourth-quarter guidance, predicting a slowdown in the PC market that would extend at least through the first half of 2027. Revenue from Intel’s client computing and physical AI businesses also fell 5% year over year to $8.1 billion, missing estimates.
The company maintained its capex guidance but cautioned that it likely won’t generate free cash flow in 2027, in part because of the surge in capex, Chief Financial Officer Dave Zinsner said on the call with investors.
The dismal results, along with Alphabet’s dismal earnings report on Wednesday that sent its shares soaring, have reignited some of the market’s deepest fears about the trajectory of the AI business.
Investors are increasingly scrutinizing the finances of major tech players, fearing that investments in AI may not pay off. Concerns cut both ways: Big tech companies are spending too much money on AI while the profit potential remains uncertain, and investments in AI could soon begin to slow, potentially triggering a series of downstream consequences that would crush the industry’s suppliers.
“The AI business has clearly hit a wall of difficulty. We are finally seeing investors take out their pencils and draw a line between those who spend rationally on AI and those who do not,” wrote leading economist David Rosenberg in a note Thursday morning.
Here’s where the U.S. indexes stood at the 4 p.m. ET closing bell on Friday:
Other chip companies fell sharply, and Neoclouds, one area in particular that investors feared would struggle if industry-wide investment were to slow, continued to take the chin as investors sought shelter from the rout. SanDisk, notably, was caught in the middle of a broader panic despite its third-quarter earnings report, with the memory company posting 378% revenue growth.
The iShares Semiconductor ETF fell 8% and remains in a bear market, having fallen 27% from its previous high. The Roundhill Neocloud ETF plunged another 8% Friday morning, sending the fund down 42% from its all-time high.
Meanwhile, investors fled to safe havens as technology faded. The 10-year Treasury yield fell 6 basis points to 4.92%.
Here are the most notable developments in the technology sector:
Sentiment on Wall Street was mixed Friday morning, with strategists assessing the damage from the past month as tech stocks took a beating. The Nasdaq 100 is on track to end October in the red, losing more than 6%.
Market intelligence strategists at JPMorgan said the shift away from AI was likely to continue on Friday, thanks to “renewed fears about AI monetization.”
“The AI business is down, but not over. This is not the first tech and AI correction, and it won’t be the last. We are still in the very early stages of AI development, and setbacks are common,” Paul Stanley, Arca’s chief executive, wrote in a note.
Gn bussni
