Meta Tumbles 6% on AI Spending Fears, 10-Year Yield Falls Below 5%: Stock Market Today
Meta Platforms Inc. led a broad tech sell-off Thursday after the Facebook parent raised its artificial intelligence spending plan, reviving worries about how the AI buildout will be funded and pushing investors toward .Meta beat third-quarter revenue estimates and guided higher, but lifted the low end of its 2026 capital expenditure forecast to $135 billion, from $130 billion.Free cash flow came in at negative $2.12 billion, and the stock fell 6.1% to $655.The drop wiped out about $108 billion of Meta’s market value by midday.Analysts were split.Bank of America Global Research raised its price target to $845, saying Meta’s “AI story continues to improve.” Scotiabank kept a $650 target, below the current price.The funding worry spread after NVIDIA Corp CEO Jensen Huang told CNBC that scarce capital is holding back neocloud providers.CoreWeave Inc. fell 8.3%.Chipmakers fell hardest.Lam Research Corp. slid 9.7%, Advanced Micro Devices Inc. lost 6.7%, Micron Technology Inc. fell 4.8% and Nvidia dropped 3.6%.The VanEck Semiconductor ETF lost 4.8%.Bonds rallied as investors sought safety.The 10-year Treasury yield fell 12.5 basis points to 4.99%, on track for its largest one-day drop since Aug. 1, 2025, and its first close below 5% since Sept. 22. The 2-year yield fell 11.9 basis points to 4.69%, and the 30-year yield dropped 9.1 basis points to 5.32%.Initial jobless claims fell to 194,000, below the 200,000 consensus and prior reading, while the Conference Board’s leading index was unchanged in September against an expected 0.2% decline.Oil moved the other way. Brent crude rose 2.8% to $111.86 a barrel and West Texas Intermediate gained 1.7% to $98.77, after President Donald Trump denied talks with Iran and The New York Times reported U.S.-Israeli plans for renewed strikes after Election Day.Gold fell 2.1% to $4,061.30 an ounce, a more-than-two-month low, as oil-driven inflation worries weighed, Reuters reported. Silver dropped 4.5% to $55.11, and Bitcoin fell 2.9% to $81,561.The S&P 500 fell 1%, or 81 points, to 7,676.The Dow Jones Industrial Average was little changed at 52,859, as gains in Procter & Gamble Co. and Johnson & Johnson offset losses in Caterpillar Inc. , Amazon.com Inc. and Nvidia.The Nasdaq 100 slid 2.3%, or 689 points, to 29,133, with Meta the worst Magnificent Seven stock. The Russell 2000 was flat at 2,782, and the VIX jumped 10.5% to 18.43.Thursday’s Performance In Major US IndicesIndexLast% ChangeMTDYTDS&P 5007,676.20-1.04%+0.32%+12.14%Dow Jones52,859.40+0.01%+3.84%+9.98%Nasdaq 10029,133.18-2.31%-4.19%+15.38%Russell 20002,781.88+0.03%-0.54%+12.09%According to the platform:The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF ) fell 1%.The SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust DIA) edged up 0.1%.The Invesco QQQ Trust slumped 2.1%.The iShares Russell 2000 ETF (NYSE:IWM) was little changed.Staples Lead as P&G Rallies, Tech Sinks on AI CostsThe Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLP) rose 2.5% as Procter & Gamble jumped 6.3% on 4% organic sales growth and core EPS of $2.00.The Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLV) added 1.6%, led by Johnson & Johnson, as investors rotated into defensives.The Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLK) lagged, down 2.7%, on the chip sell-off. Utilities, financials, real estate and materials rose between 0.3% and 1.2%, while communication services, industrials and energy fell between 1.1% and 1.8%.Lower rates lifted housing, with Freddie Mac’s 30-year mortgage rate easing to 7.32% from 7.40%. The iShares U.S. Home Construction ETF rallied 4.8%. Lennar Corp. rose 7.2%, and PulteGroup Inc. gained 5.7% despite an earnings miss. The VanEck Gold Miners ETF (NYSE:GDX) dropped 5.4% with bullion.Among Russell 1000 gainers, Pool Corp. rose 9.9% after third-quarter revenue of $1.50 billion and adjusted EPS of $3.40 topped estimates. Allegion plc gained 9.7% after raising its full-year adjusted EPS guidance to $9.08 at the midpoint.Spotify Technology S.A. jumped 8.8% as paying subscribers reached 306 million and ad revenue growth accelerated. Roper Technologies Inc. rose 8.7% after lifting its full-year adjusted EPS guidance to $22.35 to $22.40. Zillow Group Inc. climbed 8.6% with homebuilders as mortgage rates eased.On the downside, TTM Technologies Inc. plunged 27.7% as fourth-quarter revenue guidance of $1.42 billion to $1.44 billion fell short of consensus at the midpoint, despite a third-quarter beat. Forgent Power Solutions Inc. sank 23.2% below its $27 IPO price after CFO Ryan Fiedler said he would step down.Carpenter Technology Corp. fell 21.1% after fiscal first-quarter sales of $798.2 million rose less than expected. Graco Inc. dropped 14.3% after missing third-quarter estimates and guiding fourth-quarter revenue below forecasts.Viavi Solutions Inc. slid 13.7%, falling with other optical networking stocks as AI hardware names sold off.Looking ahead, Newmont Corp. , Western Digital Corp. and Deckers Outdoor Corp. report after the close, with consensus EPS of $1.96, $4.11 and $1.79, respectively.Thursday’s Russell 1000 Top GainersName% ChangePool Corp.+9.89%Allegion plc+9.73%Spotify Technology S.A.+8.82%Roper Technologies Inc.+8.73%Zillow Group Inc.+8.61%Thursday’s Russell 1000 Top LosersName% ChangeTTM Technologies Inc.-27.72%Forgent Power Solutions Inc.-23.15%Carpenter Technology Corp.-21.12%Graco Inc.-14.30%Viavi Solutions Inc.-13.70%Preview Photo: Shutterstock