Stocks fall as Intel's outlook sets off a chip sell-off; energy and staples rise — October 30, 2026

The Session

U.S. stocks closed sharply lower on Friday, October 30, 2026. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 572.25 points, or 1.09%, to 51,770.31. The S&P 500 dropped 140.32 points, or 1.82%, to 7,580.07, and the Nasdaq Composite lost 747.73 points, or 2.86%, to 25,437.00 ^[1]. The small-cap Russell 2000 fell 47.37 points, or 1.66%, to 2,811.84 ^[1]. The Nasdaq-100 fell 3.46% to 28,384.85, and the S&P 500 touched an intraday low of 7,527.67 ^[3]. Tech stocks had their worst day since June as the latest tech results revived doubts that heavy spending on artificial intelligence will pay off ^[2].

Intel was the main drag. It forecast fourth-quarter revenue of $15.0 billion to $16.0 billion, below its third-quarter revenue of $16.5 billion and below the analyst estimate of $17.1 billion, and the stock fell 28.58% ^[2]. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index fell 7.20%. Nvidia lost 4.22%, Broadcom 5.48% and Dell 10.77% ^[3]. Amazon fell 1.41% after its earnings and sales missed estimates and it reported negative free cash flow of $42.4 billion over 12 months ^[2]. Crypto-linked stocks also fell after a $6.3 billion breach at Binance: Coinbase dropped 10.62% and Robinhood 7.21% ^[3]. On the economic calendar, the Employment Cost Index rose 0.8%, or 3.4% from a year earlier, and the Chicago PMI came in at 55.3, below a 56.1 forecast ^[3].

The losses were concentrated in a few sectors. The Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF fell only 0.79%, and 226 of its holdings advanced, mostly outside technology ^[3]. Technology was the weakest sector, down 4.89%, followed by industrials, down 1.60%, and communication services, down 1.29% ^[3]. Energy led with a 1.91% gain, followed by consumer staples, up 1.41%, and utilities, up 0.67% ^[3]. Exxon Mobil rose 2.16% and Chevron 1.75% after both beat estimates ^[3]. Brent crude rose 2.37% to $113.43 a barrel after a tanker attack in the Strait of Hormuz, while gold fell 3.30% to a one-year low ^[3].

Treasury yields fell. The 10-year yield ended at about 4.93%, down roughly 6 basis points according to Yahoo Finance ^[1]; a separate recap put it at 4.94%, down 4 basis points, with the 2-year at 4.56% ^[3]. The Cboe Volatility Index rose 12.91% to 19.42 ^[3].