Key Notes
- The Nasdaq Composite fell about 2.4% and the S&P 500 lost roughly 1.3% in an October 22 afternoon snapshot, as technology shares led the retreat.
- Quotes timed 14:54–14:55 Eastern implied roughly $575 billion in combined equity-value losses for Nvidia, Meta and SpaceX, distinct from an entire-market total.
- Meta’s investment bill and concerns about AI financing weighed on sentiment, while Brent rose above $112 and investors bought Treasuries, pulling the 10-year yield below 5%.
U.S. stocks sold off sharply on Thursday as renewed doubts about artificial-intelligence financing hit major technology companies and rising oil prices added another pressure on the market. The Nasdaq Composite fell about 2.4%, while the S&P 500 lost roughly 1.3% in afternoon trading.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down approximately 89 points, or 0.2%, in CNBC’s market update at 2:49 p.m. Eastern time on October 22. The gap between the benchmarks showed how heavily the selling was concentrated in technology and other growth stocks.
The pressure reached chip suppliers, cloud operators and companies funding their own AI infrastructure. Separate quotes several minutes later showed Nvidia, Meta and SpaceX falling further, together implying roughly $575 billion in lost equity value compared with their previous closes.
Three Mega-Caps Shed Roughly $575 Billion
CNBC’s quotes timed 2:54–2:55 p.m. Eastern showed the scale of the decline across three of the market’s largest companies:
- Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA) traded at $212.14, down 4.43%. Its quote implied approximately $237 billion less equity value than at Wednesday’s close.
- Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ: META) traded at $640.94, down 8.11%. The corresponding snapshot implied a decline of roughly $144 billion in market capitalization.
- SpaceX (NASDAQ: SPCX) traded at $145.07, down 8.94%. Its quote implied a market-value reduction of approximately $193 billion.
The dollar estimates multiply the quoted share-price declines by the rounded outstanding-share counts shown alongside them. They are approximate changes in equity valuation, rather than amounts of cash withdrawn from the companies or a total for the entire U.S. market.
Index-level losses also overlap with individual-company losses and with one another. Adding a separate Nasdaq market-value decline to an S&P 500 decline would count some of the same companies twice. A market-wide total requires a consistently defined universe and a common timestamp.
Meta’s Revenue Beat Meets Its Investment Bill
Meta’s decline followed a quarter of strong sales alongside heavier demands on cash. Its official earnings release reported $64.60 billion in revenue, up 26% from a year earlier, while capital expenditures, including finance-lease principal payments, reached $34.91 billion.
Free cash flow was negative $2.12 billion. The company narrowed its full-year capital-spending outlook to $135 billion–$145 billion, raising the lower end from $130 billion while leaving the ceiling unchanged.
As we reported, Meta also approved a new non-voting Class C share structure intended to give it additional financing flexibility. The announcement did not specify an immediate offering or proceeds from a new share sale.
The reversal from an initial after-hours gain underlines the distinction between beating a quarterly revenue forecast and satisfying investors about future returns. Advertising growth supplies cash, but shareholders are also assessing the scale, timing and funding of the next round of infrastructure investment.
SpaceX Retreats as Merger Questions Remain
SpaceX’s decline put it back below a $2 trillion equity valuation in the quoted afternoon snapshot. The selling came while investors were still evaluating its quarterly results and the possibility of a combination with Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA).
We previously reported that the companies were considering an all-stock transaction among several potential structures, including a new holding company. Those discussions remain preliminary, with no announced exchange ratio or definitive agreement.
SpaceX reported $14.58 billion in quarterly revenue and $19.59 billion in capital expenditure. That spending profile makes access to capital relevant alongside the company’s operating growth and the strategic arguments for a merger.
A lower stock price can also change the economics investors associate with a possible share-funded deal. It does not establish that the talks have failed or determine what terms the independent committees might eventually recommend.
AI Financing Concerns Extend Beyond Chip Demand
CoreWeave Inc. (NASDAQ: CRWV) fell more than 9% in the same afternoon market report. Nvidia Chief Executive Jensen Huang told CNBC that demand for neocloud computing was strong, while the capital available to finance that growth was scarce.
The distinction helps explain why evidence of demand has not prevented selling across the AI supply chain. Financing new capacity, earning a return on it and replacing rapidly depreciating equipment are separate challenges from finding customers who want more computing power.
Gartner’s October 14 research estimated that more than $3.5 trillion of AI infrastructure spending could be exposed to impairment by the end of 2030 if the current investment trajectory continued. It also forecast that over 80% of neocloud providers could cease operating independently by then.
Those are conditional forecasts, rather than booked losses or a finding that every affected business will close. They nevertheless put the durability of business models and funding arrangements alongside the headline growth in AI workloads.
Oil Climbs as Treasuries Attract Buyers
The pressure on equities coincided with another jump in energy prices. Brent crude futures rose around 3% to above $112 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate advanced roughly 2% to above $99, according to the afternoon market update.
Investors also bought U.S. government bonds. The 10-year Treasury yield fell more than 18 basis points to about 4.965%, showing a flight toward safer assets even as higher oil prices renewed concerns about inflation.
Thursday’s retreat follows the earlier AI-led losses we reported on October 14. The latest figures remain an intraday snapshot: the final index returns, individual share prices and associated market-value changes will depend on trading through the closing bell.
