Wall Street closes lower to end rocky week

Wall Street closes lower to end rocky week

By Lewis Krauskopf, Tharuniyaa Lakshmi and Ragini Mathur

Fri October 23, 2026  

As far as tech went, today became a day of recovery after Thursday’s extreme rout and the recovery lasted until noon when both indexes started declining again. The S&P sank to the morning lows while the Nasdaq stayed closer to flat. There remain serious concerns about the expenses of the AI build-outs and, for the first time, an expert is predicting that next year the sector will have to cut back on the building of the data centers.  

S&P 500, Nasdaq end sharply lower as revived AI doubts ignite tech selloff

S&P 500, Nasdaq end sharply lower as revived AI doubts ignite tech selloff

By Stephen Culp and Tharuniyaa Lakshmi

Thu October 22, 2026

 

I noted on Wednesday that, at least for one day, AI was back in favor. But today was indeed another day and a spate of depressing Q3 tech reports, especially in AI, brought all the old fears right back to the front burner. The S&P fell dramatically but not nearly as bad as the Nasdaq which suffered its biggest loss since June. In fact, the chip index is now down 26% from its June record high. But this whole environment is neatly summed up by today’s expert, “It’s a wonderful day on Wall Street. The only part of the market that is really suffering is technology, which had been the golden child until June.  

Nasdaq leads Wall Street gains as SpaceX, Super Micro boost AI sentiment

Nasdaq leads Wall Street gains as SpaceX, Super Micro boost AI sentiment

By Sinéad Carew and Purvi Agarwal

Wed October 21, 2026   

It was good news all around today with SpaceX soaring 7.8% on the news of showing its first profits since going public and Super Micro boasting similar glad tidings. The good feelings seeped into other tech companies and particularly AI with HPE and Dell also amongst the day’s winners. This was enough to alleviate the anxieties of AI being overvalued and both tech and industrials shot up a very respectable middle 3-digits with the chip index getting a very nice 2% boost.  

Dow outperforms as Wall Street rises, healthcare stocks lead gains

Dow outperforms as Wall Street rises, healthcare stocks lead gains

By Sinéad Carew and Tharuniyaa Lakshmi

Tue October 20, 2026  

It was yet another one of those days where concerns over AI’s potential profitability due to its excessive debt load sent the tech investors into cautionary mode with the Nasdaq not moving the needle much and closing flat while the S&P enjoyed a 60 point gain until 11 a.m., then plummeting and staying down the rest of the session to close modestly up.  

Nasdaq climbs as chip and AI-linked stocks bounce back

Nasdaq climbs as chip and AI-linked stocks bounce back

By Sinéad Carew and Tharuniyaa Lakshmi

Mon October 19, 2026  

Today’s expert put it best. “Nothing changed between Friday’s close and this morning’s open, other than nothing bad happened over the weekend, and sentiment had gotten so negative that we were oversold to the point that a bounce was due.” And that’s exactly what happened in tech and particularly AI as monies flowed steadily back into both the Nasdaq and S&P. And as is usually the case, the monies came out of industrials and the defensive sectors. There were handsome gains all around and the Dow, though closing nominally in the red, bounced back and forth between a minus 140 and a plus 130.  

Wall Street tumbles as worries about AI trade and high oil prices weigh

Wall Street tumbles as worries about AI trade and high oil prices weigh

By Noel Randewich and Purvi Agarwal

Fri October 16, 2026  

Today, a 3% jump in oil prices combined with serious concerns over debt-laden AI pushed all the indexes straight down in a big way, especially the Nasdaq that lost 572 points and dove 4% for the week, its sharpest fall since June and the S&P its sharpest since January. The AI companies have all cratered under all the debt pressure and the likelihood that all that debt will soon become even more expensive.  

S&P 500 ends higher as traders shift from AI to healthcare

S&P 500 ends higher as traders shift from AI to healthcare

By Noel Randewich and Sruthi Shankar

Thu October 15, 2026  

PPI came in today with the worst increase in 4-1/2 years providing even more fuel to Wednesday’s hot CPI readings on the inflation. This further aggravated all the concerns about inflation, particularly with the AI stocks which, with the prospect of higher interest rates, would be seriously impacted due to their extraordinary debt loads. So there was a rotation back to standard industrials which saw the Dow skyrocket 556 points while the tech indexes both tanked, the Nasdaq diving almost 400 points at open but gradually recovering these losses to even see a little green by close.