Nasdaq 100 futures fall 2.6% as concerns grow over Amazon and Intel spending
Key Facts
Nasdaq 100 futures fell 2.6% at 08:15 a.m. Eastern Time on October 30, while S&P 500 futures fell 1.12%, as investor concerns grew over Amazon and Intel’s results and AI-related spending. At 09:35 a.m., the Nasdaq Composite was down 2.5%, while Intel shares fell 28.8%, according to the Associated Press. At 10 a.m., the Composite was down 2%, and the S&P 500 had fallen 1.1%, putting its October gains at risk of being erased. Amazon and Intel had closed the previous session at $243.79 and $92.07 a share, respectively, according to EL7 data. The market came under pressure even though the companies’ quarterly results were not uniformly weak: Amazon’s cloud business grew amid concerns over the scale of its spending, while Intel reported quarterly earnings above analysts’ expectations despite a sharp fall in its share price.
At Amazon, Amazon Web Services sales rose 39.3% to $46 billion in the third quarter ended September 30, the segment’s fastest growth in about five years, according to the Associated Press. But the expansion came as the company stepped up infrastructure spending, putting returns on AI investment at the center of investor questions. Free cash flow was negative $42.4 billion in the 12 months ended September 30, according to the same report. The company also spent $94.8 billion on property and equipment in the third quarter. The contrast between cloud growth and the scale of spending shows how strong operating results can coincide with pressure on available cash when capital investment expands rapidly.
Chief Executive Andy Jassy said Amazon expects to spend $220 billion in capital expenditure during 2026, most of it on building AI data centers. The guidance puts future spending at the heart of how the market assesses the results: concerns extend beyond the quarter just ended to the resources the company will allocate to continuing its expansion. In this context, rapid AWS growth, negative free cash flow and a large capital-spending plan combined to explain investors’ caution over the cost of building infrastructure.
Intel shares fell 28.8% in Friday’s session, nearing their worst session since 1974, despite the company reporting quarterly earnings above analysts’ expectations, according to the Associated Press. The AP attributed the weak outlook to a fourth-quarter earnings estimate below analysts’ expectations and continued pressure on the personal-computer sector. The company said pressures in the sector were still affecting demand. The figures reflect a divergence between the company’s overall performance and one of its segments: growth in total revenue did not stop the market from focusing on weakness in personal computers and the future outlook.
The selloff also affected the market value of companies and technology indexes. Reuters reported that Amazon and Intel risked losing about $300 billion in combined market value if losses continued, potentially putting the Nasdaq-100 on course to shed about $1 trillion. The index had already lost about $1.4 trillion in market value during the month through October 30, according to the report. Market strategist Art Hogan described the move as a shift from popular technology stocks to safer havens, saying: "I don't think this is a broader correction... It's a shift from a very popular technology trade into safer havens." His assessment places the session’s losses within a repositioning by investors after earnings disappointments, rather than treating them as evidence of a broad market shift.