US stocks slide on Alphabet shock, October 30 2026

1. US STOCKS FALL ON TECH SELLOFF
Wall Street dropped as Alphabet slumped.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 132.54 points, or 0.25%, to 52,342.56; the S&P 500 lost 23.59 points, or 0.30%, to 7,720.39; the Nasdaq Composite sank 365.13 points, or 1.38%, to 26,184.72. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index dropped 1.42%, while the VIX rose 1.71% to 17.20. The decline broke a three-session winning streak for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq, driven by a sharp sell-off in Alphabet. Defensive groups gained: healthcare +2.50%, real estate +2.25%, financials +1.52%; communication services fell 6.60%.

2. ALPHABET PLUNGES ON AI CONCERNS
Alphabet lost about $500 billion in market value.
Shares of Google parent Alphabet fell about 12.6%, the biggest one-day drop since its listing, after Q3 revenue of $127.58 billion and EPS of $2.12 missed LSEG estimates. Capital expenditure jumped 114% year over year, and free cash flow was negative for a second straight quarter. Analysts warned that AI-driven erosion of search and YouTube share is becoming a core concern for the company's growth model.

3. AMAZON AND INTEL DISAPPOINT AFTER HOURS
Amazon and Intel added pressure after the close.
Amazon reported Q3 revenue of $201.94 billion and EPS of $1.89, both slightly below expectations; AWS revenue of $45.9 billion beat estimates, but Q4 sales guidance midpoint missed forecasts. Intel beat Q3 estimates with revenue of $16.51 billion, but guided Q4 revenue to $15-16 billion, below the roughly $17 billion consensus, citing a PC slump and an Israel plant explosion. After hours, Amazon fell about 5.4%, Intel dropped about 16.5%, and E-mini Nasdaq 100 futures extended losses to around -2.6%.

4. OTHER EARNINGS SPLIT SHARPLY
Eli Lilly surged; ServiceNow and Fortinet tumbled.
Eli Lilly's Q3 revenue rose 39% to $24.4 billion, about 9% above estimates, helped by Mounjaro revenue up 65% to $10.7 billion; it raised full-year revenue guidance to $91-92 billion. In contrast, ServiceNow fell around 27% and Fortinet dropped more than 20% after disappointing results. Shell's adjusted earnings nearly doubled to $10.81 billion, the highest since 2022, driven by record refining margins of $42 per barrel; it raised its quarterly buyback to $5 billion from $3 billion.

5. US GDP STRONG BUT INFLATION ELEVATED
Q3 GDP rose 3.4%, beating forecasts.
The U.S. Commerce Department said Q3 GDP grew at a 3.4% annualized pace, above the 3.2% consensus and the strongest since Q3 2025; business investment surged 12.7% on the AI build-out, and consumer spending rose 3.8%. September PCE inflation rose 0.5% month over month and 3.6% year over year; core PCE rose 3.1% year over year. Initial jobless claims fell to 194,000, below the 199,000 expected. CME FedWatch showed a roughly 76-78% probability of a 25bp Fed rate hike by December. The 10-year Treasury yield fell 5.1 basis points to 4.9880%; the dollar index eased 0.08% to 102.035.

6. ECB HOLDS RATES, LAGARDE TO LEAVE EARLY
ECB held at 2.50%; Lagarde will step down early.
The European Central Bank kept its deposit rate at 2.50% as expected, but President Christine Lagarde said a rate hike was seriously debated and that December remains an option if conditions are confirmed. Lagarde also announced she will step down on February 7, 2027, about eight months early, with euro-area inflation at a three-year high of 3.8%.

7. OIL EASES, GOLD AND CRYPTO DECLINE
Oil fell as US-Iran diplomacy eased fear.
WTI crude for December settled down $0.78, or 0.76%, to $102.00 a barrel; Brent fell $0.44, or 0.38%, to $114.88. Diplomatic signals between the U.S. and Iran eased Middle East supply concerns, though Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia limited the decline. COMEX December gold futures settled down $20.20 at $4,031.40 an ounce, pressured by elevated U.S. inflation and the possibility of a Fed rate hike later in 2026. Bitcoin fell 2.88% to around $78,926, and Ethereum dropped 4.27% to about $3,212.

8. GEOPOLITICS AND ASIA-PACIFIC MARKETS
US-Iran letter confirmed, Hormuz remains tense.
Iran's Tasnim news agency confirmed U.S. Vice President JD Vance sent a letter to Iran's top security official Mohsen Rezaei on resuming negotiations, but said Iran had not yet responded; according to some reports, any talks to avert further U.S. strikes would need to include the nuclear issue. The Saudi-led coalition said it intercepted and destroyed a Houthi ballistic missile fired toward eastern Saudi Arabia. Iran's Revolutionary Guards said three tankers struck mines and caught fire south of the Strait of Hormuz; that claim has not been officially confirmed. In Asia-Pacific, Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 1.10% to 64,659, Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.59% to 22,959, the Shanghai Composite dropped 0.82% to 3,651, and Korea's Kospi fell 1.24%.

What to watch today: Bank of Japan interest-rate decision and U.S. futures reaction after Amazon and Intel results.
*Information compiled from multiple sources at time of publication; for reference only.*