The S&P 500 dropped 1.8% and the Nasdaq composite tumbled 2.9% as chipmakers and cloud giants faced intense valuation pressures. Intel led individual declines with a 28.6% crash after issuing weak profit guidance, while Nvidia served as the single largest drag on the broader market. Meanwhile, a major security breach affecting digital assets at Binance pressured cryptocurrency firms, pushing Coinbase Global down 10.6% and bitcoin below $77,000.
Key points
Disappointment over massive artificial intelligence infrastructure spending is fueling an…: Disappointment over massive artificial intelligence infrastructure spending is fueling an extended rout across major technology and semiconductor firms.
Traditional sectors demonstrated resilience against the broader market decline, supported…: Traditional sectors demonstrated resilience against the broader market decline, supported by strong summer earnings from energy and consumer goods companies.
Mounting volatility has driven investors into safe-haven assets, prompting the yield on t…: Mounting volatility has driven investors into safe-haven assets, prompting the yield on the 10-year Treasury note to drop to 4.93%.
Sources checked by our analysis pipeline: 1
The S&P 500 tumbled 1.8% for its worst day since June, and it closed out a third straight losing week. The weakness for technology stocks dragged the Nasdaq composite down a market-leading 2.9%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 572 points, or 1.1%.
The U.S. stock market remains only 3.1% below its all-time high, which has boosted the value of workers' 401(k) accounts, but it's become increasingly shaky as Tuesday's midterm elections in the United States approach. Worries about AI in general have already become a concern for voters across political parties, and President Donald Trump has historically used the stock market's performance as a measure of his own success.
Intel's stock led the way lower and plunged 28.6% for its worst drop since 1974. The chipmaker gave a forecast for profit in the final three months of this year that fell short of analysts' expectations, as CEO Lip-Bu Tan said the personal-computer industry continues to feel pressure. The drop came even though Intel reported a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected.
Blockchain analytics firms suspect the state-backed Lazarus Group breached Binance's hot wallet signing system using special authorization to orchestrate a massive $6.3 billion cyberheist. The operation highlights Pyongyang's reliance on digital theft to fund its regime through elite units recruited from top universities. While the exchange has contained the bulk of the damage, the incident underscores the severe financial risks posed by increasingly sophisticated state-sponsored cyber warfare.
Commodity analysts are currently re-evaluating the prevailing negative sentiment across the industrial metals sector to determine if price expectations have fallen too far. This scrutiny comes as participants seek to gauge whether prevailing pessimism accurately reflects underlying physical supply and demand fundamentals. A recalibration of these viewpoints could influence forward positioning and broader market sentiment.
Cryptocurrency exchanges are calling for swift action to strengthen their defenses following a heist at Binance. The platforms are pushing for rapid improvements to their security measures in the wake of the incident.