Key Highlights

● Wall Street had its worst day since June on Friday, October 30, 2026.

● The S&P 500 fell 140.32 points to 7,580.07.

● Alphabet, Intel and Amazon results set off an AI-spending selloff.

● Energy, staples, utilities and health care rose.

Wall Street closed out October with a thud. The S&P 500 fell 140.32 points to 7,580.07 on Friday, October 30, 2026, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 572.25 points to 51,770.31, and the Nasdaq Composite tumbled 747.73 points to 25,437.00, its worst day since June 5. The Russell 2000 lost 47.37 points to 2,811.84.

The spark came from three companies at the heart of the AI boom. Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) set the tone on Thursday with its worst day ever after reporting adjusted Earnings of $2.12 a share that missed forecasts, search Revenue of $63.4 billion against $64.9 billion expected, and free Cash Flow of negative $9.1 billion. That selloff erased about $500 billion of its market value, and the stock slipped again on Friday.

Intel's warning hits chips

Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) delivered the heaviest blow. After Thursday's close it issued a fourth-quarter outlook that fell short and warned of cash burn this year, citing a weak PC market tied to higher memory prices, Manufacturing bottlenecks and a factory accident in Israel. The shares plunged to $65.76 on Friday. Market reports called it the company's biggest one-day drop on record, while market reports described it as the worst day since 1974.

The damage spread quickly. The Philadelphia Semiconductor index sank to 10,688.80, with Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA), Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD), Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO), Micron (NASDAQ:MU), Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) and Marvell (NASDAQ:MRVL) all falling hard. "In recent weeks, our customers began signaling a PC slowdown based on the memory prices and availability," Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan said on the earnings call, according to market data

Amazon adds the cash question

Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN)'s results on Thursday night deepened the concern. Revenue of $201.9 billion and earnings of $1.89 a share both came in below estimates, and trailing 12-month free cash flow swung to negative $42.4 billion from positive $14.8 billion a year earlier. The company held 2026 Capital spending at about $220 billion and signaled another increase next year, even as Amazon Web Services revenue of $45.98 billion topped forecasts. The stock dropped sharply before the open and finished lower.

The common thread was money: how much the giants are spending on AI and how little cash is left over. "Together, Amazon, Google, Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Meta (NASDAQ:META) spent more than $200bn in the third quarter alone," a market analyst said. "The message from investors is becoming clearer: strong AI Demand is no longer enough on its own," a senior market analyst said.

Other pressures pile on

Other forces added to the strain. U.S. crude topped $104 a barrel on tensions around Iran and the Strait of Hormuz, a reported $6.3 billion hack at Binance hit crypto stocks, and traders priced in a likely December rate hike from the Federal Reserve. Money rotated into energy, consumer staples, utilities and health care, and six of the 11 S&P 500 sectors finished higher even as the headline indexes slid.

What to watch

The calendar does not let up. Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) reports on Monday, November 2, the midterm elections arrive on Tuesday, November 3, and the October jobs report lands on Friday, November 6, after ISM manufacturing and services readings earlier in the week.

Strategists described a more selective market rather than a broken one. "The love-hate relationship with tech and AI continues, and investors are becoming more discerning following earnings," a senior market strategist said. An Investment strategist put it more bluntly: "The earnings bar is very high."