Wall Street: Alphabet has its worst day ever, Nasdaq falls 1.4%

Data as of: Closing prices Thursday 29 Oct 2026; after-hours moves and Asia as of Friday 30 Oct, about 03:30–06:10 CET

US stocks closed lower on Thursday, but the picture was mixed. The S&P 500 (500 large US companies) fell 0.30% to 7,720.39 points. The Nasdaq Composite (an index heavy in tech companies) lost 1.37% to 26,184.72, and the Dow Jones 0.25% to 52,342.56 (AP, Reuters). The Russell 2000 (an index of smaller companies) rose 1.01% to 2,859.22. According to TheStreet, about 406 S&P 500 stocks gained – mostly big tech companies pulled the index down.

Alphabet (Google's parent) fell 12.64%, the stock's worst day ever (CNN). About $500 billion in market value was wiped out (CNN). Investors worry that spending on artificial intelligence (AI) is growing faster than revenue. The SOX chip index lost 1.42%. Software companies slumped after their results: ServiceNow by 26.95% and Fortinet by 20.09%. Caterpillar lost 9.25%. Winners included Eli Lilly (+6.63%), Ford (+12.4%) and Carvana (+15.68%). Microsoft gave up early gains even though its Azure cloud grew 48%.

The US economy is growing faster than expected: gross domestic product (GDP) rose at a 3.4% annual rate in the third quarter, against an expected 3.1% (Yahoo Finance). Core PCE inflation (without food and energy) was 3.1% in September. The 10-year US Treasury yield fell to 4.98%. Brent crude fell 0.38% to $114.88 a barrel. The European Central Bank (ECB) kept its deposit rate at 2.5%. ECB President Christine Lagarde will step down in February 2027 (AFP).

After the close, Amazon fell about 6.5% because its fourth-quarter sales forecast disappointed (Reuters). Intel lost about 17% on a weak outlook (Capp Notes). On Friday morning in Asia, South Korea's Kospi fell 5.4% and Japan's Nikkei 2.6% (AP). Nasdaq 100 futures were down 1.4% (Reuters). Brent rose 2.5% to $117.80. The reason: Yemen's Houthis claim to have attacked Saudi energy facilities. This has not been independently confirmed.