Fri Oct 30, 2026 edition
Alphabet's worst day ever, Amazon's $42B FCF outflow
AP's Morning Brief · Friday, October 30, 2026 · updated 10:52am ET · covers the Thu Oct 29, 2026 session
Brief art: AP's Morning Brief.
What if one stock can sink the whole market even when most names go up?
−0.3%: S&P 500 closed Thursday at 7,720.39. Dow 52,342.56 (−0.3%). Nasdaq 26,184.72 (−1.4%). Four of every five S&P 500 names rose, but Alphabet still pulled the tape lower.
−12.64%: Alphabet wiped out about $500 billion. Free cash flow −$9.07 billion vs. $2.7 billion expected. Full-year capex kept at $195–$205 billion.
>−6% AH: Amazon missed on earnings and posted a $42.4 billion free-cash-flow outflow. AWS still grew 39%.
≈−21% AH Thursday: Intel on a weak outlook. Reddit −18%. Bitcoin $77,775.11 (−4.30%) after Binance put a security incident’s impact at $6.3 billion.
ES 7,656 (−1.27%) and NQ 28,816.75 (−2.52%) at 10:42am ET Friday (Yahoo Finance 1-minute). Amazon $239.30 (−1.84%) in Friday’s session at 10:52am ET (Yahoo Finance 1-minute).
Exxon and Chevron beat this morning: adjusted EPS $4.23 vs. $4.08 and $5.28 vs. $4.89. The Employment Cost Index rose 0.8% for the quarter (+3.4% year over year), in line with forecasts.
Guess That Stock Chart
Chart: AP's Morning Brief. Data: Yahoo Finance, daily closes Apr 30 to Oct 29, 2026. [2]
Hint: this energy giant reports third-quarter results this morning, and its call starts at 9:30am ET. Answer at the bottom.
Stocks
| Index | Close | Change |
|---|---|---|
| S&P 500 | 7,720.39 | −23.59 (−0.3%) |
| Dow | 52,342.56 | −132.54 (−0.3%) |
| Nasdaq | 26,184.72 | −365.13 (−1.4%) |
| S&P/TSX | 36,249.03 | −0.04% |
As of Thu Oct 29 close · Sources: AP (U.S.), Yahoo Finance (TSX) [1] [2]
Search and Destroy
Chart: AP's Morning Brief. Data: Yahoo Finance. [2]
What happened? Alphabet (GOOGL −12.64%) had its worst day ever, wiping out roughly $500 billion in market value. [2][3] Late Wednesday it reported negative free cash flow of $9.07 billion for the third quarter, versus the $2.7 billion analysts expected, and kept its full-year capital spending guidance of $195 billion to $205 billion. [3]
Why it matters: The S&P 500 would have been higher without Alphabet, per AP. [1] ServiceNow (NOW −26.95%) also sank. [2]
Prime Time Crunch
Chart: AP's Morning Brief. Data: CNBC (LSEG estimates). [4]
Chart: AP's Morning Brief. Data: CNBC (StreetAccount estimates). [4]
What happened? Amazon (AMZN) fell more than 6% in extended trading. Earnings of $1.89 a share missed the $1.96 estimate, and revenue of $201.94 billion missed $202.31 billion, per LSEG. [4] AWS sales rose 39% to $45.98 billion, above the $45.29 billion StreetAccount forecast. [4]
Why? Free cash flow was an outflow of $42.4 billion over the trailing twelve months, driven primarily by higher spending on property and equipment for AI, Amazon said. It still expects $220 billion of 2026 capital spending. [4][5]
Bottom line: Two days, two megacaps, one question: when does the AI bill pay off?
Elsewhere after hours: Intel (INTC) tanked about 21% on a weak outlook, and Reddit (RDDT) fell 18%. [6]
Brief Break
Slice of the pie. Sandisk announced an eight-for-one forward stock split alongside its fiscal first-quarter beat. [6]
Global
| Index | Close | Change |
|---|---|---|
| STOXX Europe 600 | 649.11 | +0.77% |
| FTSE 100 | 10,722.10 | +0.26% |
| Shanghai Composite | 3,651.43 | −0.82% |
As of Thu Oct 29 close · Sources: Reuters (STOXX 600), Yahoo Finance (FTSE 100), Xinhua (Shanghai) [7] [2] [8]
Euro Shine
What happened? European shares closed at their highest since Sept. 8. Shell hit a record high after its biggest quarterly profit since 2022, and TotalEnergies added 1.2%. [7]
Meanwhile: The ECB held rates but hinted at a December hike, and President Christine Lagarde will step down. [7] In China, the ChiNext lost 4.45% as chip stocks fell. [8]
Yen for Two
What happened? The Bank of Japan held its rate at 1.25% in an 8–1 vote and said underlying inflation is "generally consistent" with its 2% target, the first time since it set that goal in 2013. [9]
Levels sheet
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Economy
| Series | Level | Change |
|---|---|---|
| U.S. 10-yr yield | 4.94% | from 5.05% |
| Gold (Comex Dec) | $4,031.40 | −0.50% |
| WTI crude (Dec) | $102.00 | −0.76% |
As of Thu Oct 29 close/settle · Sources: AP (10-yr), The Edge on CME settlements (gold), Xinhua (WTI) [1] [11] [12]
Hot and Strong
What happened? Third-quarter GDP grew at a 3.4% annual rate, beating the 3.1% forecast. The PCE price index rose 0.5% in September and 3.6% from a year earlier. [10]
Why it matters: Markets price a more than 77% chance of a December Fed hike, per CME FedWatch. [10] Yields still eased after the mixed reports, helped by lower oil, per AP. [1]
Crude Calm
Why? December Brent lost 44 cents to settle at $114.88 after the Wall Street Journal reported the U.S. reached out to Iran to restart peace talks, per CNBC. [12][13]
Payday Data
What's the focus? The third-quarter employment cost index lands at 8:30am ET. [14] Exxon Mobil and Chevron report this morning, with Chevron's call at 11:00am ET. [15][16]
Real estate
| Series | Rate | Prior week |
|---|---|---|
| 30-yr fixed | 7.24% | 7.32% |
| 15-yr fixed | 6.60% | 6.68% |
As of Thu Oct 29 · Source: Freddie Mac PMMS [17]
Crypto
| Asset | Price | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Bitcoin | $77,775.11 | −4.30% |
| Ether | $2,249.50 | −4.59% |
As of Thu Oct 29 daily close (end of the UTC day, 8:00pm ET) · Source: Yahoo Finance [2]
Vault Breach
What happened? Binance estimated a security incident's impact at $6.3 billion, with about $3 billion frozen so far. It said it will cover all losses with its SAFU fund and company funds, and paused withdrawals. [18]
Bottom line: Bitcoin fell more than 4% to $77,994.96 on Friday as the hack weighed. [18]
Guess That Stock: Answer
It's Exxon Mobil (XOM). The stock closed at $183.29 on Thursday, up about 19% from $154.33 six months earlier. It hit a low close of $136.06 on June 29 and a high of $184.54 on Oct. 26. [2] Fun fact: Exxon's third-quarter call starts at 9:30am ET today. [16] XOM quote
That's your edge for Friday. See you Sunday at 7:30am ET.
Close Summary
On the homepage →Friday, October 30, 2026 · regular-session close (4:00pm ET) unless noted · 10-year yield as of 2:59pm ET · futures as of 4:59pm ET. Every figure sourced.
Tech Sold Off to End October. Oil and Drug Makers Held Up.
What happens when investors start to doubt the big AI bet?
Friday gave a clear answer. The Nasdaq Composite fell 2.86% to close at 25,437.00. Source: Yahoo Finance
The S&P 500 fell 1.82% to 7,580.07. The Dow fell 1.09% to 51,770.31. The Russell 2000, an index of smaller companies, fell 1.66% to 2,811.84. Sources: S&P 500 · Dow · Russell 2000
The Nasdaq-100 fund QQQ closed at $690.49, down 3.47%. It was the weakest of the four big index funds. SPY fell 1.77%, DIA fell 1.07% and IWM fell 1.65%. Sources: QQQ · SPY · DIA · IWM
Why tech fell
Amazon and Alphabet missed earnings this week. That brought back a worry: Big Tech is spending huge sums on AI, and it is not clear yet that the spending pays off. Source: Yahoo Finance live
Amazon closed at $240.35, down 1.41%. Alphabet closed at $279.84, down 1.40%, one day after a 12.64% drop. Sources: AMZN · GOOGL
Intel led chips lower
Intel fell 28.58% to $65.76. The company guided fourth-quarter sales to $15 billion to $16 billion. Analysts expected $17.1 billion. "Guided" means the company told investors what it expects to bring in next. Sources: Yahoo Finance · CNBC
CNBC said Intel blamed a plant shutdown in Israel and a weak PC market. Source: CNBC
The selling spread to other chip names. Applied Materials fell 7.49% to $390.09. Broadcom fell 5.48% to $326.08. Nvidia fell 4.22% to $204.64. Sources: AMAT · AVGO · NVDA
Other big drops
Reddit fell 29.22% to $91.73. Its fourth-quarter sales outlook came in below what Wall Street wanted. Sources: Yahoo Finance · CNBC
Coinbase fell 10.62% to $143.54. Robinhood fell 7.21% to $84.99. Both were still under pressure after crypto exchange Binance estimated $6.3 billion was hit in a security incident. Sources: COIN · HOOD · CNBC
ServiceNow fell another 4.15% to $105.12, after a 26.95% drop on Thursday. Sources: Yahoo Finance · CNBC
What went up
Regeneron rose 13.33% to $927.89. AstraZeneca rose 7.02% to $186.65. Its quarterly earnings per share and sales came in above forecasts. Sources: REGN · AZN · CNBC
Oil companies also gained. Exxon Mobil rose 2.16% to $187.25. Chevron rose 1.75% to $235.52. Both beat third-quarter profit forecasts. Sources: XOM · CVX
Bonds, commodities and crypto
The 10-year Treasury yield fell to 4.93% from 4.99% (as of 2:59pm ET). A yield is the interest rate the government pays to borrow. When it falls, bond prices rise. That can mean investors want safety. Source: Yahoo Finance
The VIX, a gauge of how much swing traders expect in stocks, rose 12.91% to 19.42. Source: Yahoo Finance
Futures prices below are as of 4:59pm ET.
Gold futures fell 3.63% to $3,884.90 an ounce. That is below $4,000. Silver futures fell 5.86% to $49.135. Sources: Gold · Silver
U.S. oil futures rose 0.93% to $102.95 a barrel. Source: Yahoo Finance
Bitcoin was near $76,753 at 4:00pm ET, down 4.94% from the same time Thursday. Source: Yahoo Finance
The month in one line
For October, the Nasdaq fell 5.30%. The S&P 500 fell 0.93%. The Dow rose 1.70%. Tech carried most of the month's damage. Sources: Nasdaq · S&P 500 · Dow
Sources
- AP via Fortune, "Alphabet's stock has worst day in over 20 years, dragging the S&P 500 to first loss in four days" (Oct 29, 2026): https://fortune.com/2026/10/29/alphabet-stock-worst-day-sp-500-nasdaq-dow/
- Yahoo Finance chart data (^GSPTSE, ^FTSE, GOOGL, NOW, BTC-USD, ETH-USD, XOM), fetched Oct 30, 2026 ~5:00am ET: https://finance.yahoo.com/
- CNBC, "Alphabet tanks nearly 13% for worst day ever, losing $500 billion in value" (Oct 29, 2026): https://www.cnbc.com/2026/10/29/alphabet-google-microsoft-msft-shares-today-earnings.html
- CNBC, Amazon Q3 2026 earnings report (Oct 29, 2026): https://www.cnbc.com/2026/10/29/amazon-amzn-q3-earnings-report-2026.html
- Amazon, "Amazon.com Announces Third Quarter Results" (Oct 29, 2026): https://press.aboutamazon.com/2026/10/amazon-com-announces-third-quarter-results
- CNBC, stocks making the biggest moves after hours (Oct 29, 2026): https://www.cnbc.com/2026/10/29/stocks-making-the-biggest-moves-after-hours-amzn-intc-twlo-rddt.html
- Reuters via Euronext, "European shares close at seven-week high after ECB pause; Lagarde resigns" (Oct 29, 2026): https://live.euronext.com/en/financial-news/european-shares-close-seven-week-high-after-ecb-pause-lagarde-resigns
- Xinhua, "Chinese shares close lower Thursday" (Oct 29, 2026): https://english.news.cn/20261029/a7319d2ff0324987b22b578b84226f0a/c.html
- CNBC, "BOJ holds rates as underlying inflation aligns with 2% target for first time since 2013" (Oct 30, 2026): https://www.cnbc.com/2026/10/30/boj-inflation-target-rates.html
- CNBC, 10-year Treasury yield after GDP and PCE data (Oct 29, 2026): https://www.cnbc.com/2026/10/29/treasury-yields-federal-reserve-rates.html
- The Edge, "Commodities Wrap 29 October" (CME Group settlements, Oct 29, 2026): https://edgeconsultancykw.com/commodities-wrap-29-october-2026/
- Xinhua, "Crude futures settle lower" (Oct 29, 2026): https://english.news.cn/20261030/598bbcacf42d457aa99ad2fb6660d9dd/c.html
- CNBC, oil prices and U.S.-Iran peace efforts (Oct 29, 2026): https://www.cnbc.com/2026/10/29/oil-price-today-wti-brent.html
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Cost Index release schedule (Q3 2026, Oct 30, 8:30 AM ET): https://www.bls.gov/schedule/news_release/eci.htm
- Chevron, 3Q 2026 earnings conference call (Oct 30, 2026, 11:00 AM ET): https://chevroncorp.gcs-web.com/events/event-details/3q-2026-chevron-earnings-conference-call
- StockTitan, earnings calendar for the week of Oct 26, 2026 (ExxonMobil call 9:30 a.m. ET, per ExxonMobil's notice): https://www.stocktitan.net/articles/earnings-calendar-week-of-october-26-2026
- Freddie Mac, "Mortgage Rates Decline Further to 7.24%" (Oct 29, 2026): https://freddiemac.gcs-web.com/news-releases/news-release-details/mortgage-rates-decline-further-724/
- CNBC, "Biggest-ever crypto hack impacts $6.3 billion as Binance works to contain fallout" (Oct 29–30, 2026): https://www.cnbc.com/2026/10/29/circle-tether-freeze-funds-impacted-by-potential-binance-security-issue.html
