Wall Street: Nasdaq falls 2.6%, worst day since June, as Meta and chips slide

Data as of: Closing prices Thursday 22 October 2026; Asia and futures on Friday morning, 23 October (to about 06:00 CEST). US trading opens at 15:30 CEST

On Thursday the Nasdaq Composite fell 2.60% (694 points) to 26,008.86, its biggest drop since June. The S&P 500 lost 1.21% (93.74 points) to 7,663.43, while the Dow Jones rose just 0.02% (11.89 points) to 52,867.98 (AP, Reuters). The SOX chip index sank 6.7%, its worst day since 23 June. Most stocks in the S&P 500 actually rose, but the big tech companies carry the most weight.

Meta fell 7%. Revenue beat forecasts, but free cash flow (the money left after investment) was negative for the first time in more than a decade. Meta plans $135–145 billion of investment, and its new non-voting shares are seen as a way to raise money for AI. Nvidia lost 4.4%, CoreWeave 10.1%, SpaceX 9.1% and Tesla 3.1%. Intel, AMD, Sandisk and Marvell each fell more than 8% (AP, Reuters).

Money moved into steadier stocks: Spotify rose 11.1% on a strong outlook, Blackstone 8.4%, Lockheed Martin 7.0% after raising its annual forecast, Procter & Gamble 5.6% (its best day since 2020) and Union Pacific 3.6%. After the close Western Digital posted strong results; the stock first rose about 4%, then gave that up. Bloom Energy and Deckers fell, RingCentral rose.

Investors bought US government bonds as a safe haven. The 10-year Treasury yield fell from 5.13% to 4.97% (AP). Brent rose 4% to $113.17 a barrel after Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia. Gold fell almost 3%. On Friday morning the Nikkei is down 1.7% and the Kospi 2.4%; Nasdaq 100 futures are slightly higher.