Dow Falls 591 Points as US Stocks Slide and Brent Rises 2.8%

Key Facts

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 591 points, or 1.1%, in an update at 1:52 p.m. Eastern time on Friday, October 23, while the S&P 500 fell 0.4% and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.1%, according to the Associated Press. In the agency’s updated snapshot, three out of every four stocks in the S&P 500 were down, while Brent crude rose 2.8% to $111.69 a barrel. The US indexes fell as crude climbed, rising from less than $97 at the start of October to its highest level since March, the agency reported. Late trading figures show all three indexes lower, in contrast with earlier snapshots from the session that reported different performances for the Nasdaq and oil. The Dow closed at 52,867.98 in the EL7 data available for October 22, the latest previous closing reading cited here.

Pressure on stocks extended into Thursday’s session, when the S&P 500 lost 1.2% in its worst daily performance since July and the Nasdaq fell 2.6%, while the Dow added 11 points, according to the Associated Press. The agency said a slump in technology stocks masked broader gains elsewhere in the market that day, in contrast with the widespread declines in Friday’s session, when three out of every four stocks in the broader index fell. Brent rose 4% to $113.17 a barrel on Thursday, after touching a five-month high. The agency linked the oil rally to war concerns involving Iran and worries about global energy supplies returning to normal. By Friday’s update, it reported crude had topped its level of less than $97 a barrel at the start of the month and reached its highest level since March.

Technology stocks moved in different directions across the two sessions. On Thursday, Nvidia fell 4.4%, making it the single biggest drag on the S&P 500, according to the Associated Press. Meta also lost 7% after its latest quarterly results showed revenue above analysts’ estimates and earnings below them. In Friday’s update, Micron Technology rose 3.4% and Microsoft gained 0.7%, while AMD shares climbed 1.9%—gains the agency said helped offset the effect of declines in most stocks on the major indexes. Angelo Kourkafas, senior global strategist at Edward Jones, said investors “are focusing more on the economics of AI, particularly the large upfront cost of building infrastructure and the uncertainty over when returns on those investments will come.”

Energy companies benefited from higher crude in Friday’s update, with Chevron shares up 2.4% and ConocoPhillips shares up 3.8%, according to the Associated Press. In the bond market, the 10-year US Treasury yield rose to 4.99% from 4.96% late Thursday. The yield had fallen in the previous session to 4.97% from 5.13% late Wednesday, after topping 5.30% earlier in October, a move the agency described as large for the bond market. Friday’s rise in the yield followed that sharp drop during Thursday. These moves put oil and bond yields among the leading factors that coincided with stocks’ decline at the end of the week.

September inflation data showed the US Consumer Price Index rose 0.6% month over month, after a 0.4% increase in August, and climbed 3.7% in the 12 months through September, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The gasoline index rose 9.1% during the month, accounting for more than half of the monthly increase in the overall index. The energy index also rose 5.2% in September and 20.4% year over year, while the index excluding food and energy increased 0.3% month over month and 2.6% year over year. The figures coincided with oil’s rise during October, according to the snapshots reported by the Associated Press. The agency said the personal consumption expenditures index reading expected the following week was forecast to show inflation rising 3.7% in September, compared with the Federal Reserve’s 2% target.

Attention is turning to the Federal Open Market Committee’s two-day meeting scheduled for October 27 and 28, according to the Federal Reserve’s calendar. The news conference is scheduled for October 28 at 2:30 p.m. Eastern time. The following week, Alphabet, Microsoft and Amazon are scheduled to report earnings; the Associated Press described them as companies linked to AI. The October Consumer Price Index is scheduled for release on November 10, 2026, at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. These dates put the inflation reading, central bank meeting and technology companies’ results on the watch list after a session in which stock indexes fell and Brent rose.