Tech sell-off gives Wall Street its worst day since June
The Nasdaq fell 2.9% and the S&P 500 1.8% on Friday as Intel plunged and worries grew about the cost of the AI boom.
US stocks had their worst day in months on Friday as a sell-off in technology shares deepened. The S&P 500 fell 1.8%, its biggest one-day drop since June, and closed out a third straight losing week. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite lost 2.9%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average gave up about 570 points, or 1.1%.
The slide was led by Intel, whose shares plunged nearly 29% after the chipmaker issued a weak forecast for the current quarter late on Thursday. It was the stock's biggest one-day fall on record. Other chip companies followed it lower, with AMD down about 11% and Nvidia down about 4%, and a widely watched index of semiconductor stocks fell more than 7%.
Investors have grown uneasy about how much the biggest tech companies are spending to build data centers for artificial intelligence, and whether that spending will pay off soon. Amazon's results on Thursday showed its AI spending running faster than expected, although its shares recovered much of their early losses and ended Friday down about 1.4%.
The Nasdaq is now about 7.8% below its record close from early October, and October was its worst month since March 2025. Not every sector suffered: oil giants Exxon Mobil and Chevron rose after beating profit forecasts, helped by high energy prices. The broader market remains only a few percent below its all-time high, heading into Tuesday's midterm elections.
This summary is original reporting by tehworldnews, written after checking the facts against several major international news outlets and official statements.