S&P 500 falls 1.1% as tech shares extend sell-off

S&P 500 fell 1.1% on Friday, Oct. 16, as the Nasdaq Composite dropped 2.1%, according to an Associated Press market report.

The S&P 500’s roughly 2% weekly decline erased last week’s gain, when the index reached an all-time high, and marked Wall Street’s weakest week since late June.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 0.3% lower. The S&P 500 lost 84.62 points to 7,659.44, the Dow fell 175.28 points to 52,002.41, and the Nasdaq declined 572.99 points to 26,140.03.

Technology drove the selling. The AP report said slightly more than half of S&P 500 constituents declined, while all but seven of the 75 technology stocks in the index finished lower.

Chipmakers were among the sharpest losers as concern grew about the durability of the artificial-intelligence investment cycle, according to the report. Micron Technology fell 5.6%, Advanced Micro Devices dropped 6%, Broadcom lost 4.5% and Intel gave up 5.8%.

Other large technology names also weakened. Meta fell 3.7%, and Alphabet, Google’s parent company, declined 2.5%.

The pressure followed a volatile week for chip and AI-linked shares. The AP report said investors were watching whether companies that have used debt markets to fund large technology spending plans can keep borrowing heavily as global bond yields remain high by recent-year standards.

Netflix fell 2.9% after the company said Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria would be replaced by Peter Rice. The management change followed Netflix’s earlier announcement that it planned to cut about 6% of its workforce, or nearly 1,000 jobs.

Energy shares outperformed the broader market. Exxon rose 2.5%, and Chevron added 2.6%. In other single-stock moves, Alcoa gained 2.5% and Travelers rose 1.5% after both companies reported quarterly results above Wall Street forecasts, according to the report.

Treasury yields were little changed. The 10-year Treasury yield slipped 1 basis point to 5.09% from 5.10% late Thursday, after topping 5.30% earlier this month and touching its highest level since 2002.

The bond market’s relative calm contrasted with inflation data released this week. The AP report said U.S. consumer and wholesale inflation rose more than economists had expected, potentially strengthening the case for another Federal Reserve rate increase.

The Fed raised its key interest rate by 25 basis points in September to about 3.9%, its first increase in three years. CME Group data cited by the AP showed traders expected no change at the Fed’s policy meeting this month, while the implied odds of a December increase rose to 74.3% from 50.2% a month earlier.

Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh offered no new guidance on interest-rate policy while attending a meeting of financial leaders in Bangkok on Friday, according to the report.

Oil prices moved higher as supply concerns persisted. Brent crude rose 3.7% to settle at $109.86 a barrel, compared with about $72 in late February before the start of the Iran war, according to the report.

AAA put the national average gasoline price at $4.33 a gallon on Friday, down from $4.37 last month but above $3.06 a year earlier. ING commodities strategists Warren Patterson and Ewa Manthey wrote Friday that Middle East uncertainty and concerns over oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz had the market “pricing in a significant risk premium.”

Source: Associated Press market report, published by Los Angeles Times, Oct. 16, 2026