Intel Falls 30.1% on Weak Quarterly Guidance, Leading Tech Sell-Off

Key Facts

Intel shares fell 30.1% on Friday, October 30, 2026, after the company forecast fourth-quarter earnings below analysts’ estimates, in a decline that the Associated Press said brought the stock close to its worst daily performance since 1974. The stock led a sell-off in technology shares, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 3% at 12:55 p.m. Eastern time, according to the agency. The S&P 500 was down 1.8% at the same time. Pressure on chip stocks coincided with concerns that higher interest rates could slow the expansion of AI data centers. The decline came despite weak quarterly guidance, rather than simply the stock’s previous performance, being at the center of investors’ reaction.

The Associated Press described Intel’s move as approaching its worst day since 1974, not as having set that record. The agency said the stock “is leading declines and nearing its worst day since 1974 after falling 30.1%.” The report linked the decline to a forecast for fourth-quarter earnings below analysts’ estimates, putting the company’s outlook at the center of the sell-off. Friday’s outcome therefore differs from the wording in the initial version, which presented the record performance since 1974 as having already occurred. The 30.1% decline refers to trading on October 30, and does not describe the previous session’s close.

Losses spread to broader market indexes during Friday’s session, although the figures available from the Associated Press were an intraday snapshot, not closing results. At 12:55 p.m. Eastern time, the S&P 500 was down 1.8%, while the Nasdaq Composite had fallen 3%. The agency said the Nasdaq index was heading for its worst day since June, as it continued to decline at that time. This reading places the decline in chip stocks within broader pressure on technology shares, but does not establish the loss for any particular sector fund. These figures also do not provide the session’s final results or a measure of the sector’s lost market value.

The Associated Press attributed pressure on chipmakers to investors’ concerns that higher interest rates could slow further construction of AI data centers. This concern ties the sector’s share performance to the cost of financing the infrastructure needed to expand these centers, as well as companies’ ability to issue guidance that meets market estimates. In Intel’s case, the stock fell after the company forecast fourth-quarter earnings below analysts’ estimates, while financing and expansion concerns emerged in the broader context of a technology stock sell-off. The agency said investors fear higher rates could “slow further expansion in AI data centers.” These concerns provide context for pressure on chipmakers, without the agency attributing any individual stock move to a single cause.

EL7 data show that the Nasdaq 100 closed at 29,402.51 points on October 29, then at 28,502.1 points on October 30. The two figures reflect the index’s closes on consecutive days, while the Nasdaq Composite reading cited by the Associated Press was taken at 12:55 p.m. during Friday’s session. They are different indexes and measurements taken at different times, so the intraday decline does not represent the Nasdaq 100’s closing performance. EL7 data also show Intel closing at $92.07 on October 29, before the stock fell 30.1% in Friday trading. The data provided do not include Friday closing prices for the other stocks mentioned in the initial version.