U.S. stock futures moved lower on Friday, October 23, after a selloff in artificial intelligence stocks drove sharp losses on Wall Street. Investors continued to assess corporate earnings, rising oil prices and the Federal Reserve's interest rate decision next week.
Dow Futures Slip as Wall Street Assesses Thursday's Losses
At about 6 a.m. ET, Dow Jones futures fell 0.60%, while S&P 500 futures declined 0.23%. Nasdaq-100 futures slipped 0.04%, showing a smaller decline after technology shares led Thursday's losses.
The Nasdaq Composite dropped 694 points, or 2.60%, to 26,008.86 on Thursday. The S&P 500 fell 1.21% to 7,663.43, marking its worst session since July. However, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 11.89 points, or 0.02%, to close at 52,867.98.
The Russell 2000 added 0.11%, while several companies outside the technology sector recorded gains. Procter & Gamble rose 5.6%, Lockheed Martin advanced 7%, and Blackstone climbed 8.4%.
Meta and Nvidia Shares Retreat Over AI Spending Concerns
Meta Platforms shares fell about 7% on Thursday despite reporting third-quarter revenue of USD 64.60 billion, up 26% from a year ago. The company's earnings release showed capital expenditures, including finance lease principal payments, reaching USD 34.91 billion.
Meta raised the lower end of its annual capital spending forecast, placing expected expenditures between USD 135 billion and USD 145 billion. The outlook renewed concerns about the cost of expanding artificial intelligence infrastructure.
Meanwhile, Nvidia shares declined 4.4%, AMD fell more than 8% and CoreWeave lost approximately 10%. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index dropped 6.7%.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang addressed financing challenges facing AI infrastructure providers, saying, "There's a scarcity of capital." He explained that demand for capital was exceeding available financing.
Oil Prices Climb as Iran Conflict Weighs on Markets
Oil prices continued rising on Friday as investors monitored developments involving Iran. Brent crude traded near USD 114 per barrel, its highest level since May, while West Texas Intermediate moved above USD 100.
On Thursday, Brent crude gained 4% to settle at USD 113.17 per barrel. WTI rose 2.39% to USD 99.47. The increases followed concerns about renewed military action involving the United States, Israel and Iran.
Global stock markets showed mixed performance. Japan's Nikkei 225 declined 0.3% to 62,693.16, while South Korea's Kospi gained 0.3% to finish at 5,550.30.
In Europe, Germany's DAX, France's CAC 40 and Britain's FTSE 100 traded lower as investors assessed higher energy costs and weakness in technology shares.
Treasury Yields Recover After Thursday's Sharp Decline
U.S. Treasury yields edged higher on Friday after falling sharply during Thursday's stock market selloff. The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield climbed to approximately 4.98%, recovering from Thursday's level near 4.97%.
The decline on Thursday followed increased demand for government bonds as investors reduced exposure to technology stocks. The 10-year yield had stood above 5.13% late Wednesday.
Corporate earnings remained in focus. Western Digital reported quarterly revenue of USD 4.38 billion, representing 55% annual growth. The company forecast approximately USD 5.1 billion in revenue for its next fiscal quarter.
Newmont also reported third-quarter adjusted net income of USD 2.3 billion and free cash flow of USD 1.9 billion. The gold producer maintained its annual production target of 5.3 million attributable ounces.
What Else are US Stock Market Investors Watching?
Investors will monitor Friday's U.S. manufacturing and services purchasing managers' indexes, alongside the University of Michigan's final October consumer sentiment report.
The Federal Reserve will hold its next policy meeting on October 27–28. Markets largely expect policymakers to leave interest rates unchanged after September's increase. Futures pricing on Thursday indicated about a 5% probability of another rate increase in October.
Meanwhile, Alphabet and Microsoft are scheduled to release quarterly earnings on Wednesday, followed by Amazon on Thursday. Their results will provide updated figures on AI infrastructure spending, revenue growth and business forecasts as investors assess the outlook for U.S. technology stocks.