Wall Street ends week with a thud as big tech disappoints
San José, CA – On Friday, October 30, U.S. stocks fell. The broad S&P 500 fell more than 1.8%, while the technology company-heavy NASDAQ fell more than 2.8%. Intel, one of the world’s three largest computer chip making companies for personal computers (the others are Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company and Korea’s Samsung Electronics), led the slide, falling more than 28% – its biggest percentage loss in over 50 years.
The retreat in tech company shares kicked off on Thursday, when Google parent corporation Alphabet’s stock price fell 13%, its worst day ever, on their report showing slower growth. This was followed by Amazon’s report that revenue missed analysts’ estimates. The retreat then spread across technology companies on Friday. Not helping was the report of the biggest Bitcoin theft to date, with more than $6 billion stolen from the Bitcoin exchange Binance. Bitcoin also fell 5% on Friday.
The worry is that higher interest rates for AI companies borrowing, along with slower growth of sales, put hundreds of billions spent on data centers and other AI infrastructure at risk of not returning the profits that investors anticipate. This could not only end the stock market boom driven by tech companies, but also the investments in AI that is driving economic growth.
In addition, consumer spending in the United States is being driven by the richest 10% of households, which are buying about half of total consumer goods and services. These consumers, who own well over half of all stocks, could cut back with a stock market downturn, which also, with less capital spending by businesses, could lead to a recession.
There were some bright spots for corporations. One of them was oil and gas companies, with ExxonMobil and Chevron reporting their highest profits ever, and their stock rose on Friday. They and other big oil and gas companies have profited from higher oil prices because of the war on Iran. Products made from oil like gasoline and diesel have gone up even more, adding to these corporate giants’ profits.