Stock market today: Nasdaq futures fall 2% as Amazon, Intel slide on earnings

US stock futures fell sharply on Friday, the last trading day of October, as weak quarterly results from Amazon and Intel rattled investors and revived concerns about Big Tech's spending on artificial intelligence. Nasdaq-100 futures lost 2%, while S&P 500 futures slid about 1% and Dow futures were roughly flat. The stock market today is being driven largely by earnings and the AI trade.

Amazon and Intel take the hit

Amazon shares fell about 6% in extended trading after the company reported third-quarter earnings and revenue that fell short of Wall Street's expectations. The company posted negative free cash flow of $42.4 billion and kept its 2026 capital expenditure forecast at $220 billion.

Intel dropped 21% after the chipmaker issued a weak outlook for the current quarter, pointing to a slowdown in PCs. Revenue in its client computing and physical artificial intelligence group fell 5% from a year earlier to $8.1 billion. Another market moving report said Intel shares were down 25% in premarket trading, a larger drop than the figure given in the extended-trading report.

Data storage company Sandisk also fell about 3% in extended trading, even though its fiscal first-quarter results beat estimates. The company announced an eight-for-one forward stock split.

Alphabet and the wider AI sell-off

Alphabet shares lost 12% in regular trading on Thursday after the parent of Google missed expectations for third-quarter earnings and revenue. The company also reported negative free cash flow of $9.07 billion. That slide pulled the Nasdaq Composite down 1.4% in the regular session, while the S&P 500 fell 0.3%.

Investors are paying close attention to how much companies are spending to build out AI infrastructure. Alphabet and Microsoft have not raised their capital expenditure forecasts, and neocloud companies that build data-center capacity are under scrutiny over their debt levels. CoreWeave has fallen about 30% in October, while Nebius is on track for a 27% monthly decline.

The Nasdaq Composite is heading for a 2.5% fall in October. The S&P 500 is on track for a 0.9% gain for the month, and the Dow is on pace to rise 2.8%.

Asian and European markets slide

Asian markets closed mostly lower. Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 2.12% to 63,290.11, South Korea's Kospi dropped 3.48% to 5,730.74, and China's CSI 300 closed 1.39% lower at 3,985.50. Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 1.53% in the last hour of trading, and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.18%.

European shares were broadly lower in early trading, with the pan-European Stoxx 600 down 0.3% and its technology index down 1.9%. Not all corporate news was negative. AstraZeneca reported third-quarter core earnings per share of $2.79, above the $2.59 analysts expected, and reaffirmed its full-year and medium-term sales targets. BP also reported third-quarter underlying profit of $8.5 billion, well above the $6.191 billion forecast in an LSEG-compiled consensus.

Economic news was mixed. France's economy contracted by 0.1% in the third quarter, according to flash data from statistics agency Insee, against expectations of 0.1% growth. Oil prices also rose, with Brent crude climbing to $112 per barrel and WTI reaching $103.

What we know so far

Friday's losses come after two straight days of declines in US equities, and the month has been volatile for AI-linked stocks. Markets will look to the rest of the earnings calendar, including ExxonMobil, Chevron and AbbVie, along with October's closing trading session, for direction. Futures were pointing to a weaker open on Wall Street as traders prepared to close out the month.