Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:META) led a broad tech sell-off Thursday after the Facebook parent raised its artificial intelligence spending plan, reviving worries about how the AI buildout will be funded and pushing investors toward Treasurys and defensive stocks.
Meta beat third-quarter revenue estimates and guided higher, but lifted the low end of its 2026 capital expenditure forecast to $135 billion, from $130 billion.
Free cash flow came in at negative $2.12 billion, and the stock fell 6.1% to $655.
The drop wiped out about $108 billion of Meta's market value by midday.
Analysts were split.
Bank of America Global Research raised its price target to $845, saying Meta's "AI story continues to improve." Scotiabank kept a $650 target, below the current price.
The funding worry spread after NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang told CNBC that scarce capital is holding back neocloud providers.
CoreWeave Inc. (NASDAQ:CRWV) fell 8.3%.
Chipmakers fell hardest.
Lam Research Corp. (NASDAQ:LRCX) slid 9.7%, Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD) lost 6.7%, Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) fell 4.8% and Nvidia dropped 3.6%.
The VanEck Semiconductor ETF (NASDAQ:SMH) lost 4.8%.
Bonds rallied as investors sought safety.
The 10-year Treasury yield fell 12.5 basis points to 4.99%, on track for its largest one-day drop since Aug. 1, 2025, and its first close below 5% since Sept. 22. The 2-year yield fell 11.9 basis points to 4.69%, and the 30-year yield dropped 9.1 basis points to 5.32%.
Initial jobless claims fell to 194,000, below the 200,000 consensus and prior reading, while the Conference Board's leading index was unchanged in September against an expected 0.2% decline.
Oil moved the other way. Brent crude rose 2.8% to $111.86 a barrel and West Texas Intermediate gained 1.7% to $98.77, after President Donald Trump denied talks with Iran and The New York Times reported U.S.-Israeli plans for renewed strikes after Election Day.
Gold fell 2.1% to $4,061.30 an ounce, a more-than-two-month low, as oil-driven inflation worries weighed, Reuters reported. Silver dropped 4.5% to $55.11, and Bitcoin (CRYPTO:BTC) fell 2.9% to $81,561.
The S&P 500 fell 1%, or 81 points, to 7,676.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was little changed at 52,859, as gains in Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE:PG) and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) offset losses in Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT), Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Nvidia.
The Nasdaq 100 slid 2.3%, or 689 points, to 29,133, with Meta the worst Magnificent Seven stock. The Russell 2000 was flat at 2,782, and the VIX jumped 10.5% to 18.43.
Thursday's Performance In Major US Indices
According to the MarketDash Pro platform:
- The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (NYSE:VOO) fell 1%.
- The SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust (NYSE:DIA) edged up 0.1%.
- The Invesco QQQ Trust (NASDAQ:QQQ) slumped 2.1%.
- The iShares Russell 2000 ETF (NYSE:IWM) was little changed.
Staples Lead as P&G Rallies, Tech Sinks on AI Costs
The Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLP) rose 2.5% as Procter & Gamble jumped 6.3% on 4% organic sales growth and core EPS of $2.00.
The Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLV) added 1.6%, led by Johnson & Johnson, as investors rotated into defensives.
The Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLK) lagged, down 2.7%, on the chip sell-off. Utilities, financials, real estate and materials rose between 0.3% and 1.2%, while communication services, industrials and energy fell between 1.1% and 1.8%.
Lower rates lifted housing, with Freddie Mac's 30-year mortgage rate easing to 7.32% from 7.40%. The iShares U.S. Home Construction ETF (BATS:ITB) rallied 4.8%. Lennar Corp. (NYSE:LEN) rose 7.2%, and PulteGroup Inc. (NYSE:PHM) gained 5.7% despite an earnings miss. The VanEck Gold Miners ETF (NYSE:GDX) dropped 5.4% with bullion.
Among Russell 1000 gainers, Pool Corp. (NASDAQ:POOL) rose 9.9% after third-quarter revenue of $1.50 billion and adjusted EPS of $3.40 topped estimates. Allegion plc (NYSE:ALLE) gained 9.7% after raising its full-year adjusted EPS guidance to $9.08 at the midpoint.
Spotify Technology S.A. (NYSE:SPOT) jumped 8.8% as paying subscribers reached 306 million and ad revenue growth accelerated. Roper Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:ROP) rose 8.7% after lifting its full-year adjusted EPS guidance to $22.35 to $22.40. Zillow Group Inc. (NASDAQ:Z) climbed 8.6% with homebuilders as mortgage rates eased.
On the downside, TTM Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:TTMI) plunged 27.7% as fourth-quarter revenue guidance of $1.42 billion to $1.44 billion fell short of consensus at the midpoint, despite a third-quarter beat. Forgent Power Solutions Inc. (NYSE:FPS) sank 23.2% below its $27 IPO price after CFO Ryan Fiedler said he would step down.
Carpenter Technology Corp. (NYSE:CRS) fell 21.1% after fiscal first-quarter sales of $798.2 million rose less than expected. Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) dropped 14.3% after missing third-quarter estimates and guiding fourth-quarter revenue below forecasts.
Viavi Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ:VIAV) slid 13.7%, falling with other optical networking stocks as AI hardware names sold off.
Looking ahead, Newmont Corp. (NYSE:NEM), Western Digital Corp. (NASDAQ:WDC) and Deckers Outdoor Corp. (NYSE:DECK) report after the close, with consensus EPS of $1.96, $4.11 and $1.79, respectively.
