Amazon, Intel Earnings Deepen Wall Street’s AI Spending Fears
Amazon’s cash burn and Intel’s weak guidance extended a megacap earnings selloff into Friday, pushing the Nasdaq lower and the VIX to its highest level in weeks.
Market Snapshot
All figures are indicative opening levels as of this morning, October 30.
Amazon’s free cash flow turned negative and Intel’s fourth-quarter guidance missed estimates, both tied to rising AI infrastructure costs.
All figures are indicative opening levels as of this morning, October 30.
Stocks pointed to a lower open Friday, with the Dow around 52,342.56, down 0.25 percent, the S&P 500 around 7,720.39, down 0.30 percent, and the Nasdaq around 26,184.72, down 1.38 percent.
Gold slipped to around $3,981.20, down 1.25 percent, and silver fell to around $50.42, down 3.74 percent, while oil climbed to around $104.25, up 2.21 percent, on Houthi attacks on Saudi oil infrastructure. The VIX jumped to around 18.44, up 7.21 percent, as megacap earnings reactions continued to rattle markets.
Big Tech earnings are driving the stocks in the news today.
Amazon fell to around $226.75, down 6.99 percent, as AWS revenue climbed 39 percent even as heavy capital spending pushed free cash flow sharply negative, Intel dropped to around $68.23, down 25.90 percent, after fourth quarter guidance far below estimates overshadowed stronger third quarter earnings, and Nvidia slipped to around $207.35, down 2.95 percent, as the broader AI-related selloff weighed on chipmakers.
Main Story
Amazon and Intel became the latest megacap names to unsettle investors over artificial intelligence spending, extending a selloff that began with Alphabet’s earnings reaction earlier in the week.
- Amazon’s AWS cloud business grew revenue 39 percent to $46 billion, but $75.9 billion in quarterly capital expenditures pushed free cash flow to roughly negative $33.46 billion.
- Intel beat third quarter earnings estimates with adjusted earnings of $0.52 per share, but guided fourth quarter earnings to just $0.25 per share against a consensus near $0.44, citing continued softness in the PC market.
- The reactions compounded Thursday’s selloff in Alphabet shares, reinforcing investor concern that heavy artificial intelligence infrastructure spending across Big Tech is weighing on near term cash generation.
Chart of the Day
Amazon shares traded around $226.75 in premarket action Friday, extending a decline below both its 50-day average near $252 and 200-day average near $254.
The drop followed a quarter of heavy AWS-related capital spending that pushed free cash flow sharply negative, even as cloud revenue growth hit its fastest pace in years.
Traders are watching whether shares can stabilize near recent support or whether broader concerns about AI infrastructure spending keep pressuring the stock into next week.
Technical Trading
AMZN levels from Thursday’s technical summary, ahead of Friday’s earnings reaction.
- The 14-day RSI read around 33.339 heading into the print, already in oversold territory before Friday’s premarket decline.
- MACD sat around negative 1.938, confirming a bearish trend that had been building through October.
- Classic pivot support near $244.46 gave way in premarket trading as shares gapped well below the level.
Global News
- Binance confirmed a $6.3 billion hack, the largest crypto theft on record, and pledged to cover all customer losses, with roughly $3 billion frozen onchain.
- Iran-backed Houthi forces claimed six attacks on Saudi airports and oil facilities, including the Ras Tanura refinery and an Aramco site in Abqaiq, despite recent Saudi-Iran dialogue.
- Brent crude approached $116 a barrel and WTI topped $103 as the Houthi escalation put oil on pace for a fourth monthly gain.
- Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said three tankers struck sea mines and caught fire near the Strait of Hormuz.
- Asian technology shares fell overnight as the Alphabet, Amazon and Intel earnings reactions rippled through global chip and hardware suppliers.
Texas News
Cullen/Frost Bankers will move its primary listing from the NYSE to the Texas Stock Exchange effective November 12, with chairman Phil Green citing growth in Dallas’s emerging Y’all Street financial district.
The San Antonio bank, with a market cap near $9.8 billion, becomes one of the exchange’s highest-profile listings yet.
Looking Ahead
Friday, October 30: Markets digest a third straight session of megacap earnings reactions, with Amazon and Intel joining Alphabet at the center of the AI spending debate.
Monday, November 2: Traders will watch whether Friday’s tech selloff extends into the new week or whether cooler capex commentary helps stabilize sentiment.
Tuesday, November 3: Oil markets stay in focus as traders assess whether Houthi attacks on Saudi infrastructure keep supporting crude prices near recent highs.
The Y’all Street Podcast
Evan talks with Wasif Latif, Co-Founder and CIO of Sarmaya Partners, about his “Return to Tangibles” thesis: markets shifting from tech and long-duration financial assets toward energy, metals, commodities, and infrastructure. They cover what’s changed since the 2008 financial crisis, and frame AI as much a physical infrastructure story (power, natural gas, copper, uranium) as a software one. Latif ties it back to how he’s positioning around that view through Sarmaya’s LENS ETF.
Prices from Yahoo Finance, CNBC and Fortune. Technical levels from Investing.com and FXStreet. News from Reuters, Al Jazeera and CNBC.
For informational purposes only. Not investment advice. Prices are indicative opening levels and may differ from your broker.
