Nasdaq falls 2.2% as tech stocks slide and Chinese equities near bear market
Key Facts
Wall Street extended losses during morning trading on Thursday, October 22, 2026, with the Nasdaq Composite falling 2.2% to 26,101.98 points, according to a market update published by Investing.com at 10:35 New York time. The technology-heavy index was the hardest hit in that update, as shares of major companies in the sector declined following their earnings and guidance. Meta shares fell more than 5% in early trading, despite the company's third-quarter revenue exceeding Wall Street expectations, according to the website. In its earnings and guidance, Tesla lowered its 2026 capital expenditure forecast to $20 billion from an expected $25 billion. The spending cut was part of results and forecasts that Investing.com described as prompting investor caution. These corporate developments coincided with the release of new U.S. jobless claims data and came ahead of the Federal Reserve's next monetary policy meeting.
The U.S. Labor Department reported that seasonally adjusted initial jobless claims fell to 194,000 in the week ended October 17, down 6,000 from the previous week. The reading was released in the department's October 22 report, while the measurement period covered the week ending before that date. The reading for the week ended October 10, used as the basis for the weekly comparison, was revised to 200,000. The department said: "The previous week's level was revised up by 1,000, from 199,000 to 200,000." The decline also extended to the four-week moving average of initial claims, which stood at 197,750 for the period ended October 17, down 1,000 from the previous revised average. In contrast, seasonally adjusted continuing claims rose to 1,728,000, a weekly increase of 25,000, according to the department. The continuing claims reading covers the week ended October 10, an earlier period than the initial claims reading in the same release.
In China, the CSI 300 index fell as much as 1.6% during Thursday's session, according to Investing.com, bringing its losses since its June peak close to 20%. The decline put the index on the brink of a technical bear market as it continued to retreat from that peak. Chinese equities weakened as gross domestic product growth accelerated to 4.5% year on year in the third quarter of 2026, according to China's National Bureau of Statistics. Growth had stood at 4.3% year on year in the second quarter before picking up in the following period. Over the first nine months of the year, China's economy grew 4.6% from the same period a year earlier, according to the bureau, a reading covering the cumulative period since the start of the year.
The next date on the economic calendar is October 23, which S&P Global has scheduled for the release of flash purchasing managers' indexes. The upcoming readings cover October activity, according to the schedule in the institution's global economic outlook. The institution said: "This month's flash PMI figures will be released on October 23." Following that release, the Federal Reserve holds its next meeting on October 27 and 28, 2026, according to the Federal Open Market Committee's official calendar. The new jobless claims figures thus form part of the information available before the meeting, showing declines in initial claims and their moving average alongside a rise in continuing claims.