Amazon and Intel shares slid sharply on October 30 after earnings reports reignited investor doubts about the cost of the artificial intelligence buildout, dragging technology stocks lower for a second straight session. Amazon fell about 7 percent in after-hours trading, while Intel plunged roughly 23 percent, according to Bloomberg coverage.
The Nasdaq Composite fell 1.375 percent to 26,184.73 on Friday, a sharper decline than the S&P 500, which eased 0.305 percent, and the Dow, which slipped 0.253 percent, according to LoopWire’s market summary. Nasdaq 100 futures had dropped as much as 2 percent overnight.
Amazon’s $42.4 billion cash swing
Amazon reported trailing-12-month free cash flow of negative $42.4 billion, compared with positive $14.8 billion a year earlier, according to CNBC’s earnings coverage. Third-quarter capital expenditure reached $77.26 billion, and the company kept its expected 2026 cash capital spending at approximately $220 billion.
Amazon Web Services sales rose more than 39 percent to $46 billion, its fastest growth in nearly five years, with operating income of $17.8 billion. But coverage said the spending needed to meet AI demand overshadowed that growth, and holiday-quarter sales guidance came in below expectations at its midpoint.
Intel’s PC warning
Intel’s problem ran in the opposite direction. The chipmaker forecast fourth-quarter revenue of $15 billion to $16 billion, below market expectations and down from $16.5 billion in the third quarter, according to Bloomberg. Chief financial officer David Zinsner expects the PC slowdown to last at least through the first half of 2027, citing a memory-chip shortage that is raising costs.
Client computing revenue fell 5 percent to $8.1 billion, while data centre and AI revenue jumped 78 percent to $7.3 billion. Chief executive Lip-Bu Tan said the immediate priority was increasing supply for Xeon server processors amid extraordinary demand.
The market reaction is a reminder that investors now judge technology companies on cash as well as growth. Spending on data centres and chips may still prove profitable over time, but the latest selloff shows that patience is thinner than it was, and companies will need to show returns sooner rather than later.
