Wall Street is set to end a bruising October with another tech-led selloff: Nasdaq 100 futures were down about 2.4% and S&P 500 futures down about 1%, while Dow futures edged up 0.2%, in delayed quotes checked around 7:25 a.m. Eastern, after Amazon and Intel became the latest giants to show that the artificial intelligence buildout is consuming cash faster than it produces returns. Two of the market’s biggest names are poised to shed roughly $300 billion in combined market value at the open if premarket losses hold.
Amazon fell about 7% in premarket trading after reporting a $42.4 billion free-cash-flow outflow over the past twelve months – driven, the company said, by sharply higher spending on equipment for artificial intelligence – and sticking to a plan for roughly $220 billion in capital expenditures this year with more to come, the company said in its quarterly release. The headline numbers were strong: revenue at its AWS cloud unit grew 39%, its fastest pace in nearly five years, and operating margin hit a record 13.9%. But earnings and revenue both fell short of expectations, and the company’s holiday-quarter forecast of $240 billion to $247 billion in sales was not enough to calm investors.
Intel was the morning’s biggest casualty, down about 26% before the bell. The chipmaker beat third-quarter expectations with revenue up 21% to $16.5 billion, but forecast fourth-quarter revenue of $15 billion to $16 billion and earnings of just 10 cents a share as a weak personal-computer market drags on. “We see the PC slowdown continuing at least through the first half of next year,” Chief Financial Officer David Zinsner said in the company’s earnings release. The stock had been up about 150% this year before the report.
A record crypto heist adds to the nerves
Compounding the risk-off mood, Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, disclosed that a hack had impacted $6.3 billion in digital assets – what the investigations firm TRM Labs called the largest hack in crypto history, eclipsing the $1.5 billion Bybit heist in 2025. Binance said in a statement that about half of the affected assets have been frozen, that withdrawals are disabled until systems are confirmed secure, and that it will cover all customer losses. TRM Labs attributed the theft to North Korean hackers. Bitcoin fell below $78,000, and shares of crypto-linked companies dropped in premarket trading.
Thursday’s damage, and what October leaves behind
The selling follows a Thursday session in which Alphabet plunged 12.6% – erasing about $500 billion in market value – after its own results showed search advertising falling short and AI spending surging. The S&P 500 closed down 0.3% at 7,720, the Dow lost 0.3% to 52,343 and the Nasdaq composite fell 1.4% to 26,185, while small-cap stocks bucked the trend with a 1% gain. Heading into the final session of the month, the Nasdaq is on course for its first monthly decline after two straight gains, while the S&P 500 and the Dow are holding onto positive Octobers.
Oil climbs
Oil prices extended their rally, with Brent crude up 2.4% at about $113.50 a barrel in delayed quotes checked around 7:25 a.m. Eastern, on track for a fourth straight monthly gain, after Yemen’s Houthi movement intensified attacks on Saudi Arabia. Gold slipped about 1% to around $3,990 an ounce.
Overnight around the world
Asia felt the tech chill first. Tokyo’s Nikkei fell 2.1% to 63,290 and South Korea’s Kospi tumbled far enough to trigger a rare trading curb, while the Bank of Japan held its key rate at 1.25% and signaled a possible December increase after core inflation reached its 2% target. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng opened slightly higher, but mainland China’s blue-chip index headed for its largest monthly fall in a decade. European markets opened in the red after fresh Eurostat figures showed the euro-area economy grew 0.4% in the third quarter, slowing from 0.6% in the second, and the wider European Union 0.5%, with Germany up 0.2%, France down 0.1%, Italy flat and Spain up 0.6%.
What it means for you
For households, Friday’s crosscurrents land in two everyday places. At the gas pump: oil’s fourth straight monthly gain, now supercharged by attacks on Saudi Arabia, points to higher fuel costs in the weeks ahead just as holiday travel approaches. And in retirement accounts: another sharp drop in the biggest tech names will show up in any stock-heavy 401(k), though Thursday’s trading told the story of this market – while big tech fell, smaller-company stocks rose 1%, and the Dow is still on track for a winning month. For crypto holders, Binance says it will cover all losses from the hack, but the freeze on withdrawals is a live reminder that on an exchange, access to your money depends on the platform’s security.
What to watch today
Before the bell: Exxon Mobil and Chevron headline a big energy earnings morning, with AbbVie also reporting. At 8:30 a.m., the Labor Department releases the Employment Cost Index for the third quarter, the Fed’s preferred read on whether labor costs are adding to inflation pressure. After the Federal Reserve held its benchmark rate at 3.75% to 4% on Wednesday and Thursday’s data showed the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge running at 3.6% year over year, traders see the central bank’s next rate increase coming as soon as December. And through the day, markets will test whether the AI spending fears that erased $500 billion of Alphabet’s value on Thursday and threaten another $300 billion from Amazon and Intel at Friday’s open spread further – or stop at the companies spending the most.
JBizNews Desk | Wall Street
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