Nasdaq sheds $2 trillion in October after Wall Street suffers its worst day since June over AI spending fears
A two-week Alphabet share-price chart, sourced from Yahoo Finance, showing the plunge that wiped $500 billion from the company's value after profit collapsed 25% to $26.2 billion.
Intel crashed nearly 30% on the day — its steepest single-session fall since 1974 — after its results disappointed Wall Street, pulling the broader Nasdaq down 2.9% on Friday and capping a punishing month. Advanced Micro Devices tumbled 11%, Amazon shed 6% after posting a free cash flow deficit of $42.4 billion, and Alphabet recorded its largest one-day percentage decline ever earlier in the week.
The $2 trillion October wipeout is roughly equivalent to SpaceX's entire market valuation, with the Nasdaq 100 losing more than 5.8% over the month.
Meta's plan for a record $97.5 billion fundraise intensified concern that Big Tech will lean ever more heavily on capital markets to bankroll AI ambitions that have yet to produce returns.
Microsoft and SpaceX stood apart from the carnage, with their results indicating that AI investments are starting to bear fruit — a rare glimmer of optimism in an otherwise grim earnings season.
