Intel plunges 28.6% on weak Q4 guidance as Amazon misses; Nasdaq falls 2.9% and chip index drops 7.2%

Amazon

Amazon's third-quarter earnings per share were $1.89, missing the consensus by $0.07, and its revenue of $201.9 billion missed by $360 million. The shares fell between about 4.5% and over 6% in the reports, and Amazon pared its losses as the session went on. One report cites a free cash flow outflow of $42.4 billion.

The Nasdaq is down 7.8% from its record close on 6 October. All three indexes closed lower for the week. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq lost ground for the month, while the Dow gained in October. The technology sector of the S&P 500 had its biggest monthly percentage loss since March 2025, and communication services had its biggest monthly drop since April 2022.

The semiconductor index fell 7.2% and is on course for a monthly loss of more than 15%. AMD fell 10.9%, Nvidia 4.2%, Dell 10.8% and HP 9.6%. Micron slipped 5.5%, Applied Materials fell nearly 5% and Lam Research 5.5%, and Broadcom opened about 4% lower. Qualcomm traded lower on weak wireless and handset demand. In premarket trading, Sandisk was down 9% even though it beat estimates and raised its outlook, and Marvell was down 6%.

Oliver Pursche of Wealthspire Advisors said the week had been about the future of artificial intelligence and whether spending on it will produce a positive return on investment. He said that companies that meet high expectations are doing well, while those that fall short are punished. The selloff followed a record bad day for Alphabet on Thursday after it said that search revenue growth slowed.

Meta reported negative free cash flow of $2.1 billion, against analysts' projection of negative $9.4 billion, and it plans to raise up to $95 billion through stock offerings, according to one report. MarketScreener's consensus of 48 analysts has a mean rating of outperform on Intel, with an average target price of $107.21, about 63% above the last close.

Beyond technology, results were broadly strong. Of the 299 S&P 500 companies that had reported, 82% beat analysts' expectations, and analysts expect third-quarter earnings growth of 31.6% from a year earlier. Exxon Mobil and Chevron beat profit expectations, and their shares rose 2.2% and 2.8%. Starbucks fell 1.8% after forecasting an annual revenue decline due to its sale of its China business.

Coinbase, Strategy and Robinhood fell between 7.2% and 10.6% after reports that hackers had stolen $6.3 billion from Binance.

On the New York Stock Exchange, decliners outnumbered advancers by 1.8 to 1, with 169 new highs and 377 new lows. On the Nasdaq, 3,622 stocks fell and 1,196 rose, a ratio of about 3 to 1, with 70 new highs and 355 new lows. In the S&P 500, 43 stocks hit new 52-week highs and five hit new lows.

Trading volume was 19.87 billion shares, against a 20-day average of 17.26 billion. On the Nasdaq, 3,622 stocks fell and 1,196 rose. The reports found do not include a comment from Intel's management on the guidance, and none sets out how long the slowdown in PC sales is expected to last.