Nasdaq falls 1.66% after Alphabet shares slide 13.2%

The Nasdaq Composite fell 1.66% to 26,108.35 on Thursday, a Reuters report published by Dawn on Oct. 29 said, after Alphabet shares slid 13.2% following quarterly results.

Alphabet’s drop was about eight times the Nasdaq’s percentage decline, according to Atlas360 calculations, underscoring how one megacap earnings miss sharpened concern over AI-related spending while the Russell 2000 rose 0.8%.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 315.36 points, or 0.59%, to 52,163.07. The S&P 500 lost 48.73 points, or 0.63%, to 7,695.25, while the Nasdaq dropped 441.15 points.

Reuters said technology and technology-linked megacaps weighed on the Nasdaq after Alphabet’s report late Wednesday. Semiconductor stocks fell 2.0%, putting them on course to end a four-day advance, as investors reassessed which companies can fund AI investment internally and which may need heavier borrowing.

“A risk-off day like this, with small caps outperforming, is a good sign that thus far the market’s interpretation of cracks in the AI story doesn’t mean cracks in every corner of the market,” Ross Mayfield, investment strategy analyst at Baird in Louisville, Kentucky, told Reuters. “There’s plenty of other places to go with your money outside of the AI trade that have pretty decent prospects.”

The market move followed the Federal Reserve’s decision on Wednesday to leave U.S. interest rates unchanged. Policymakers said price pressures remained “elevated” and that the central bank would choose its next step as it “accumulates more information.”

Economic releases on Thursday gave investors more to assess. Reuters reported that an initial third-quarter gross domestic product reading showed faster-than-expected U.S. growth, while price growth continued to strengthen as a war-related oil supply crunch fed broader inflation.

The equity reaction was not uniform. Communication services and technology were the weakest of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors, while healthcare led gainers. Advancing stocks outnumbered decliners by 1.59-to-1 on the New York Stock Exchange and by 1.09-to-1 on the Nasdaq.

Earnings season had passed the halfway mark. Of 253 S&P 500 companies that had reported, 81% beat analyst expectations, according to LSEG data cited by Reuters. Analysts expected aggregate third-quarter S&P 500 earnings growth of 31.0% year on year.

Company moves showed investors separating winners from losers. Caterpillar fell 9.5% after topping quarterly profit estimates but keeping growth targets unchanged. Eli Lilly rose 6.3% after raising its revenue outlook on weight-loss drug sales, Ford gained 2.9% after a third-quarter revenue beat, and Merck advanced 4.4% after beating earnings expectations on Keytruda and Gardasil sales.

Software stocks were weaker. Fortinet and ServiceNow each dropped more than 20% after quarterly results. Marvell Technology fell 12.8% after media reports said it was in advanced discussions to acquire Lumentum Holdings, a data-centre optics company.

Lumentum shares rose 2.0%.

Amazon results next

Amazon shares were down 3.9% before its earnings report, which Reuters said was expected after Thursday’s closing bell.

Investors also had a broader earnings benchmark to test as the reporting season continued: LSEG data cited by Reuters showed 81% of reporting S&P 500 companies had beaten expectations, with analysts projecting 31.0% aggregate third-quarter earnings growth from a year earlier.

Source: Reuters report published by Dawn, Oct. 29, 2026