Nasdaq 100 Falls 3% as Earnings Stoke AI Reckoning: Markets Wrap
(Bloomberg) — A burst of heavy selling pummeled technology stocks and cryptocurrencies, curbing the appetite for riskier corners on Wall Street.
Another batch of disappointing tech results intensified the industry rout, with traders questioning the payoff from artificial-intelligence investments. The Nasdaq 100 fell about 3%. Intel Corp. sank 30% as its outlook missed estimates. Amazon.com Inc. dropped 2% on greater capital spending. The S&P 500 was set for its worst day since June, breaching the key 100-day moving average.
Bitcoin slid to around $77,000 as Binance revealed a record hack that renewed questions about the security of customer assets. Oil rose on worries the US may resume strikes against Iran. Higher energy costs reduced the bid for Treasuries, but the market was set for the best month since February 2025.
The core businesses of America’s technology giants — the advertising, consumer and retail machines propping up a collective $750 billion in AI spending this year — are starting to show signs of slowing. In some cases, they’re being cannibalized by the very technology the firms are betting the house on.
That has sharpened scrutiny of both the durability of AI demand and whether the huge sums being poured into the technology will generate sufficient returns. The Nasdaq 100 has wiped out more than $1.2 trillion in market capitalization in October.
The spreading weakness in the core businesses of tech giants means the big payoff that everyone has been saying will come eventually is getting pushed even further down the road, according to Matt Maley at Miller Tabak.
“It raises the question as to whether the payout will be as big as they have been promising,” he added.
Maley also noted that the biggest problem investors will face in the coming weeks is that the “rotation” that has held up the US stock market could easily disappear.
“If the major averages begin to drop in a more compelling manner, it is very likely that investors will stop rotating into other sectors and start rotating into cash,” he said. “This is especially true since they have been hearing about a bubble for over a year now.”
While AI demand remains robust, there’s a rising risk of mid-cycle capital expenditures indigestion, according to Ulrike Hoffmann-Burchardi at UBS Chief Investment Office.
“We continue to see scope for equity gains overall and believe investors should focus on building a resilient portfolio that includes exposure beyond tech,” she said.
Corporate Highlights:
ExxonMobil Holdings Corp. and Chevron Corp. beat profit expectations as conflicts in the Persian Gulf and Russia roiled energy markets, driving refining results to record highs. Starbucks Corp. Chief Executive Officer Brian Niccol said building a multi-brand company is a possibility, two weeks after the chain shut down rumors that it was exploring a takeover of Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. Reddit Inc. is planning to limit access to its online forums in a bid to get users to register for accounts and deepen engagement, igniting investors’ concerns that the move will instead weigh on traffic while the company is already dealing with a dropoff in active US users. Roblox Corp. reported a year-over-year decline in player engagement after deploying more robust child-safety measures. Rivian Automotive Inc. reported a smaller-than-expected loss and early momentum for its new R2 SUV, a positive sign for a model that’s critical to the electric vehicle maker’s profitability. Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
The S&P 500 fell 1.6% as of 12:26 p.m. New York time The Nasdaq 100 fell 3.3% The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.8% The Stoxx Europe 600 fell 0.5% The MSCI World Index fell 1.4% Currencies
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.2% The euro fell 0.1% to $1.1166 The British pound rose 0.2% to $1.3399 The Japanese yen rose 0.1% to 157.50 per dollar Cryptocurrencies
Bitcoin fell 1.7% to $77,418.4 Ether fell 1% to $2,233.23 Bonds
The yield on 10-year Treasuries was little changed at 4.94% Germany’s 10-year yield declined four basis points to 3.32% Britain’s 10-year yield declined one basis point to 5.28% Commodities
West Texas Intermediate crude rose 2.3% to $104.37 a barrel Spot gold fell 3.1% to $3,896.91 an ounce ©2026 Bloomberg L.P.
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