Wall Street Ends October With a Rout as Intel Suffers Its Worst Day Since 1974

Geostrategic Media Desk Team

Key Features

• On Friday the S&P 500 fell 1.82% to 7,580.07, the Nasdaq Composite 2.86% to 25,437.00 and the Dow 1.09% to 51,770.31.
• Intel dropped 28.6%, its worst day since 1974, after a weak profit forecast and cash-burn warning; Amazon fell 1.4% on heavy AI spending and negative free cash flow.
• The Nasdaq lost about 5.3% in October, its worst month since March 2025, while the Dow gained about 1.7%.
• Investors now weigh AI spending, a possible Fed rate hike in December, high oil and the US midterms.

Wall Street closed a volatile month with its sharpest one-day drop since June, as disappointing earnings from two of the biggest names in technology deepened a sell-off in artificial intelligence stocks that began earlier in the week with Alphabet.

Friday’s close

The S&P 500 finished 3.05% below its record of 7,818.93 set on 6 October, though it is still up about 10.7% for 2026. The Nasdaq-100 dropped about 3.5% and the small-cap Russell 2000 lost 1.66% to 2,811.84. For the week the S&P 500 fell about 0.6%, the Nasdaq about 2% and the Dow about 0.9%, and the S&P and Nasdaq posted their third straight weekly decline, the longest losing run since March. Gold slid to a one-year low while oil rose on a tanker attack near Hormuz.

Intel and Amazon

Intel plunged 28.58% after forecasting fourth-quarter earnings of 25 cents a share against about 43 cents expected, and warning of sluggish PC sales and cash burn. Amazon slipped 1.41% after missing on revenue and profit and reporting negative free cash flow of about $42.4 billion over the past 12 months as its AI build-out pushed spending higher. On Thursday, Alphabet had fallen 12.6%, its worst day on record, after capital spending hit $51.4 billion and free cash flow turned negative. Microsoft held up better, helped by 48% growth at its Azure cloud business. Software stocks were also hit, with ServiceNow dropping about 25% on a weak outlook.

The month in context

October was far worse for technology than for the broader market. The S&P 500 fell about 0.9% for the month, but nine of its eleven sectors gained and four rose by double digits, which is why the Dow ended October up. The Nasdaq lost about 5.3%. Analysts point out that the biggest cloud companies are expected to spend more than $700 billion on AI infrastructure in 2026 and over $1 trillion next year, and that investors are no longer willing to reward that spending without clearer cash returns.

The macro backdrop

US growth is strong: third-quarter GDP rose 3.4%. But inflation is rising, with the Fed’s preferred gauge at 3.6% year on year. The Fed held rates at 3.75%-4.00% on a 10-2 vote, and markets put about an 83% chance on a rate hike in December. Oil, at about $113-$118 a barrel for Brent depending on the contract, adds to price pressure, and the Iran war could escalate after the midterm elections.

What to watch

• 3 November: US midterm elections and any move on Iran afterwards.
• 6 November: the monthly US jobs report.
• 8-9 December: the Fed meeting.
• Chipmakers and cloud companies: further guidance on AI spending and demand.