Update: Nasdaq Plunges 810 Points as Mega-Cap Chipmakers Sink Following Intel's Results

01:46 PM EDT, 10/30/2026 (MT Newswires) -- (Updates with index/price moves, macroeconomic data, and company/geopolitical news from the first paragraph.) US equity indexes fell as a sharp sell-off in heavyweight chipmakers led by Intel (INTC) pushed the Nasdaq Composite down 820 points. The Nasdaq dropped 3.1% to 25,362.3, followed by a 1.9% slide in the S&P 500 to 7,574.1 and a 1% decline in the Dow Jones Industrial Average to 51,835.7 after midday Friday. Technology, industrials, and consumer discretionary led decliners while consumer staples and energy topped gainers. Of the 20 worst-performing stocks with market capitalization exceeding $200 billion each, 19 were technology firms, according to data compiled by Finviz. Within the tech firms, most were semiconductor industry-related. Intel's Q3 revenue fell short of analyst estimates, and Q4 adjusted earnings and sales outlook lagged forecasts. Its shares plunged 30%, the steepest decline on the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq. The iShares PHLX Semiconductor Exchange Traded Fund, with about $48.43 billion in assets under management, dropped 9.2%, reflecting heavy selling in AI-related names. Amazon.com (AMZN) reported a decline in Q3 earnings and a negative free cash flow of $42.4 billion, driven by investments in artificial intelligence infrastructure. Raymond James adjusted Amazon's price target to $250 from $300. Shares pared back declines, but not before hurting risk sentiment, and were still down 1.9%. Reddit (RDDT) shares sank 30% after the company reported Q3 earnings that missed analysts' expectations. BNP Paribas adjusted Reddit's price target to $110 from $180. In geopolitical news, Iran's Revolutionary Guards said it stopped two tankers passing through the southern Strait of Hormuz and claimed that a supertanker caught fire after hitting a naval mine in the strait, Al Jazeera, a Middle Eastern broadcaster, reported. The IRGC said two oil tankers caught fire after hitting mines in the eastern part of the waterway, according to the news report. Iran also destroyed an unmanned enemy drone craft to the east of the strait, it added. The front-month West Texas Intermediate crude oil contract jumped 2.8% to $104.83 per barrel, and global benchmark Brent advanced 2.5% to $117.80 per barrel. Gold futures slumped 3.3% to $3,898.1, and silver futures plunged 6% to $49.26. In economic news, the quarterly US employment cost index rose by 0.8% in Q3, as expected in a Bloomberg-compiled survey, and slower than the 0.9% gain in the previous quarter, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Friday. The Institute for Supply Management's Chicago PMI reading fell to 55.3 in October from 58.8 in September, versus the 56.0 expected in a Bloomberg-compiled poll, indicating a slower pace of expansion. US Treasury yields fell, with the two-year yield down 6.2 basis points to 4.59% and the 10-year rate sliding 4.8 basis points to 4.94%.