Nasdaq today: Tech stocks tumble as AI spending worries return after Tesla and Meta earnings, oil climbs

The Nasdaq is having a rough Thursday, Oct. 22. The tech-heavy index slid more than 2% as chipmakers and other AI-linked stocks sold off, reversing Wednesday’s rally after earnings from Tesla and Meta did little to ease worries about the huge cost of building out artificial intelligence. Rising oil prices added to the unease.

This article is for information only and is not financial advice. Do your own research or talk to a licensed advisor before making investment decisions.

Nasdaq today: Where the major indexes stand

These are intraday figures; trading was still underway when this was written.

• In Yahoo Finance’s update at about 2:15 p.m. ET, the Nasdaq Composite was down 2.7%, the S&P 500 was off 1.5% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average had slipped 0.3%.
• Earlier, at 11:58 a.m. ET, Reuters had the Nasdaq down 551.50 points, or 2.06%, at 26,152.90; the S&P 500 down 1.10% at 7,671.90; and the Dow nearly flat at 52,826.91.

Final closing numbers may differ. Technology was the weakest of the S&P 500’s 11 sectors, down more than 2.7% at midday, while consumer staples led gains, Reuters reported.

Why is the stock market down today?

According to Reuters and Yahoo Finance, a few things hit at once:

1. AI spending worries are back. The optimism that fueled Wednesday’s rally, sparked by strong results from SpaceX and Super Micro, faded as investors turned from earnings strength to the enormous capital needed for AI infrastructure and the uncertain payoff, Reuters said. “Investors are now reassessing the pace of AI spending and the returns that spending can generate,” Steve Sosnick, chief market analyst at Interactive Brokers, told Reuters.
2. Chip stocks sank. The Philadelphia SE Semiconductor Index fell 5.6% to its lowest since July 29 and was on track to shed more than $616 billion in market value, while the Nasdaq-100 was set to lose nearly $1 trillion, according to Reuters. Nvidia and Amazon were each down more than 3%.
3. Meta fell sharply. Meta shares dropped after the company unveiled a new class of non-voting shares to help fund its AI expansion, even though revenue beat expectations and its fourth-quarter sales forecast was upbeat. Reuters had the stock down 5.2% at midday.
4. Oil climbed. Brent crude rose to about $113 a barrel and U.S. crude to about $100, a five-month high, Yahoo Finance said. It cited a report that the U.S. and Israel are preparing renewed attacks on Iran after the midterm elections, plus a deadly attack at a Saudi Arabian airport and oil field. Reuters pointed to more Houthi attacks in Saudi Arabia.

Investors also moved into bonds, pushing Treasury yields lower; Reuters said the 10-year yield fell to around 5.0%.

Tesla earnings: What the EV maker reported

Tesla released third-quarter results after the bell on Wednesday. According to Reuters:

• Revenue was flat from a year earlier but beat Wall Street targets, while net income plunged 43%.
• Tesla cut its 2026 capital spending forecast to roughly $20 billion, from more than $25 billion, without saying what it would spend less on.
• It spent $4.7 billion on capex in the quarter, versus the $7.5 billion analysts expected, and posted $1.53 billion in free cash flow when analysts had expected cash burn.
• Automotive gross margin excluding regulatory credits was 18.1%, above estimates, and Tesla delivered 486,532 vehicles in the quarter.

The shares initially rose about 2% after hours but reversed. Yahoo Finance described Tesla stock as volatile on Thursday as investors weighed lower 2026 spending against higher planned outlays in 2027 and 2028 on Optimus, Cybercab and Terafab. “Lower capex suggests less of an ‘all-in’ approach to the AI arms race than one would expect from Elon,” Ryan Lee of Direxion told Reuters. CEO Elon Musk has also said a Tesla-SpaceX merger is a “good idea,” Reuters reported.

What’s going up?

Not everything fell. Reuters said Procter & Gamble jumped about 6% after beating estimates, Blackstone and Lockheed Martin rose almost 6% each after their results, and Spotify gained 9% on an upbeat profit forecast. Weekly jobless claims also fell unexpectedly, to 194,000, Yahoo Finance said, a sign layoffs remain low.

What comes next for stocks?

The Federal Reserve meets next week, and Reuters said the resilient labor market is supporting expectations that the Fed will keep interest rates unchanged. Earnings season also continues: third-quarter profit growth for S&P 500 companies is now forecast at 32.3%, up from 30.7% previously, according to LSEG data cited by Reuters. Stock futures for the Nasdaq, S&P 500 and Dow trade overnight, so the next read on sentiment will come after Thursday’s close.