US stocks fell sharply Friday as renewed selling in technology names weighed on broader markets, extending a volatile week marked by concerns over artificial intelligence spending, shifting interest rate expectations, and uncertainty around delayed government data.
The Nasdaq Composite dropped 1.5%, while the S&P 500 fell 1.1%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 479 points, or 1%. Technology shares were once again at the center of the downturn, dragging major indices to their lowest intraday levels of the week.
Key technology names continued to weaken on Friday.
Nvidia fell 2.8% while Advanced Micro Devices lost 4.7%, adding to steep declines from the previous session.
Tesla and Palantir Technologies were down 3% apiece after falling more than 6% on Thursday.
Bitcoin also declined, falling below $95,000 as risk sentiment deteriorated across Wall Street, particularly among tech-focused investors.
AI trade concerns and Fed uncertainty pressure markets
Thursday’s losses marked the worst one-day performance for major US indices since October 10.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell about 800 points, reversing gains from Wednesday when it briefly crossed the 48,000 level.
The Nasdaq Composite dropped more than 2%, as technology giants bore the brunt of the selloff, placing the index on pace to break its seven-week winning streak with a week-to-date decline of 0.6%.
The S&P 500 was up 0.1% for the week, while the Dow held a 1% advance.
Investor anxiety around the sustainability of the artificial intelligence trade intensified this week.
A sharp pullback in Oracle, whose growth is heavily reliant on its cloud partnership with OpenAI, has raised concerns about stretched tech valuations, surging debt financing, and rapidly rising AI capital expenditures.
Adding to market unease, expectations for a Federal Reserve rate cut in December have weakened.
Traders now assign a roughly 52% chance of a quarter-point cut at the December meeting, down from 62.9% earlier in the week and sharply lower than the 95.5% probability seen a month ago, according to the CME FedWatch Tool.
Some Fed officials have recently voiced concern that inflation remains too persistent to justify easing monetary policy.
Stock movers: Cidara soars, Walmart slips, StubHub plunges
A series of notable corporate moves added to Friday’s busy market landscape.
Cidara Therapeutics surged 105% after Merck agreed to acquire the company in a $9.2 billion cash deal.
Merck shares slipped 1.4% following the announcement.
Avadel Pharmaceuticals rose 20% after Danish drugmaker Lundbeck offered to buy the company for up to $23 per share, overtaking Alkermes’ earlier bid.
Warner Bros. Discovery gained 2.6% after reports that Paramount, Skydance, Netflix, and Comcast are gearing up to submit bids for the media company ahead of a November 20 deadline.
Walmart fell 2.3% after CEO Doug McMillon announced he will step down on February 1, to be succeeded by John Furner.
Robinhood dropped 2.4% amid the broader tech rotation despite reporting a 34% jump in equity trading volume and a nearly 22% rise in options trading activity between September and October.
Applied Materials slid 4% after issuing a cautious outlook for next year, despite beating fourth-quarter earnings and revenue estimates.
StubHub tumbled 25% after reporting a third-quarter net loss of $1.33 billion, driven largely by a one-time stock-based compensation charge.
CEO Eric Baker said the company will not provide guidance for the current quarter.
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