S&P 500 Slips 0.47% for the Week as Meta's AI Spending Hits Chips; Russell 2000 +2.00%
S&P 500 week close: 7,623.68 (-0.47%) Nasdaq Friday close: 25,955.34 (-0.21%) Sentiment: mixed
The S&P 500 closed the week ending 23 October 2026 at 7,623.68, down 35.76 points or 0.47%, its second straight weekly loss, after Meta's first cash outflow in more than a decade revived doubts about AI capital spending and sent the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index down 6.7% on Thursday, per Reuters. META.US lost 9.40% for the week, while BRZE.US gained 56.37% on a $47.50-a-share cash offer from Salesforce. The Russell 2000 rose 2.00% and the 10-year Treasury yield fell 11 bps to 4.99%, as Brent crude climbed 6.24% to $116.72 on renewed US and Iran tension.
The week on Wall Street
The S&P 500 rose for three sessions to a week-high close of 7,757.17 on Wednesday 21 October 2026, then lost 133.49 points across Thursday and Friday. Monday added 0.41% as chip funds ended a nine-session losing run and AMZN.US gained 4.98% on a Morgan Stanley top-pick call. Tuesday added 0.28% as health care rose 2.37% to a record, and Wednesday added 0.58% after SpaceX reported its first profit as a public company and SMCI.US rose 9.55% on a raised forecast.
Thursday's 1.21% fall was the worst session since July, per CNBC. Meta set up non-voting Class C shares to fund AI spending, and META.US fell 6.98% that day. The Nasdaq lost 2.60% and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index 6.7%; LRCX.US fell 11.76% on guidance and NVDA.US 4.40%. On Friday the S&P 500 lost 0.52% as T.US fell 7.96% on a Bloomberg report that SpaceX is seeking about 80,000 US cell sites.
The Nasdaq ended the week at 25,955.34, down 0.71%. The Dow rose 0.41% to 52,215.16, its third straight weekly gain, per Reuters, and the Russell 2000 gained 2.00% to 2,775.90. GOOGL.US fell 5.98%, NFLX.US 6.64% after its results and GM.US 9.58% after it narrowed its 2026 profit range. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index ended the week down 3.21% after recovering 0.44% on Friday.
Sector scorecard (5-day)
Energy (XLE.US) rose 1.60% in the week to 23 October 2026, the best of the 11 SPDR sector funds, while communication services (XLC.US) fell 4.36%, the worst.
- Best: Energy (XLE.US) +1.60%; health care (XLV.US) +1.45% and real estate (XLRE.US) +0.97%.
- 1.60% was the energy gain as December WTI rose 4.29% to $103.27; the S&P 500 energy sector set a record high on Friday, per Reuters, and SLB.US gained 7.19% for the week after a profit beat.
- Worst: Communication services (XLC.US) -4.36%, as META.US fell 9.40%, T.US 10.71% and TMUS.US 7.89%.
- Industrials (XLI.US) fell 1.87% as GEV.US lost 11.53% and HWM.US 15.86%; technology (XLK.US) eased 0.13%.
- Dispersion (best minus worst): 5.96 pts.
Eight of the 11 sector funds closed the week higher while the S&P 500 fell, because communication services and technology together carry about 45% of the index weight.
Top movers, week ending 23 October
| Ticker | Week | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| BRZE.US | +56.37% | Salesforce agreed to buy Braze for $47.50 a share in cash |
| UWMC.US | +38.10% | Preliminary Q3 revenue of $800 million to $825 million against $678.9 million expected |
| RHI.US | +37.71% | Q3 adjusted EPS $0.49 against $0.47 expected |
| IRON.US | +31.09% | Phase 3 APOLLO trial of bitopertin met all primary and secondary endpoints |
| BHVN.US | +28.76% | FDA accepted the troriluzole resubmission; goal date in the first quarter of 2027 |
| CRS.US | -24.51% | Fiscal Q1 revenue $798.2 million against $830.8 million expected |
| FPS.US | -23.55% | CFO Ryan Fiedler stepped down less than nine months after the IPO |
| CORT.US | -22.06% | Genmab's competing ovarian cancer drug met Phase 3 survival endpoints |
| LKQ.US | -21.64% | Preliminary Q3 below estimates; withdrew 2026 guidance; CEO replaced |
| SE.US | -20.41% | Plans to sell cloud capacity externally and a possible Monee fintech spin-off |
NTSK.US rose 27.79%, ZS.US 23.04%, OKTA.US 13.77%, CRWD.US 13.27% and PANW.US 11.27% as cybersecurity stocks rallied on two exploited PHP flaws on Wednesday and an Evercore ISI channel survey on Friday; the First Trust NASDAQ Cybersecurity ETF (CIBR.US) gained 7.39%. BX.US rose 10.66% after Blackstone said wider spreads on AI-related debt could lift its returns, per Reuters, and LMT.US 9.44% after Lockheed raised its 2026 sales forecast. FIX.US fell 19.33% and BE.US 12.66% after results that raised outlook and cash flow questions, per TheStreet.
Friday US session
- S&P 500: 7,623.68 (-0.52%)
- Nasdaq: 25,955.34 (-0.21%)
- Dow: 52,215.16 (-1.23%)
- VIX: 19.45 (+2.21%)
- Russell 2000: 2,775.90 (-0.29%)
The S&P 500 lost 52 bps on 23 October 2026 as consumer discretionary (-1.66%), consumer staples (-1.92%) and financials (-1.32%) took about 44 bps and communication services about 18 bps, while technology and energy added back about 25 bps. AXP.US fell 3.67% after American Express announced plans to cut about 5% of its workforce, per TheStreet, which cost the price-weighted Dow 652.82 points. CCI.US rose 9.06% on the SpaceX cell-site report, and RHI.US gained 21.74% after its results.
Brent traded above $116, its highest since late April, after Houthi attacks in Saudi Arabia, per Reuters; the December contract settled at $116.72, up 6.24% for the week. December WTI rose 3.82% on Friday. Decliners outnumbered advancers 1.72 to 1 on the NYSE, and volume of 15.4 billion shares ran below the 20-day average of 17.2 billion.
Macro themes that played out
The 10-year Treasury yield closed at 4.988% on Friday 23 October 2026, down from 5.098% a week earlier, after it fell about 19 bps on Thursday as bonds drew safe-haven demand during the chip sell-off. The 2-year yield fell more than 16 bps to 4.659% the same day, per CNBC. The US Dollar Index ended at 101.75, little changed for the week, and December gold fell 4.14% to $4,007.90.
The Labor Department reported on 22 October that initial jobless claims fell 6,000 to 194,000 in the week ended 17 October, their lowest since mid-July. The final University of Michigan consumer sentiment reading for October came in at 48.0 on 23 October, against 48.1 in September, and one-year inflation expectations rose to 4.7% from 4.6%, per Reuters. On 19 October the NAHB housing index fell 3 points to 29, its lowest since June 2012, per CNBC. The Fed stayed in its pre-meeting blackout; Reuters reported on 22 October that markets price a 25 bps rate increase before year-end.
Week ahead, Monday to Friday (ET)
The FOMC announces its decision at 2:00pm on Wednesday 28 October, and Alphabet, Microsoft and Amazon report the same week, per Stock Titan.
- Mon 26 Oct: Verizon reports before the open, call at 8:30am.
- Tue 27 Oct: September durable goods orders and new home sales, per the Census Bureau calendar. Coca-Cola, UPS and Boeing report before the open; Visa after the close.
- Wed 28 Oct, 2:00pm: FOMC decision. Alphabet (call 4:30pm) and Microsoft (call 5:30pm) report after the close.
- Thu 29 Oct, 8:30am: advance third-quarter GDP and September personal income and outlays, including the PCE price index, per the BEA, plus weekly jobless claims. Mastercard, Eli Lilly, Merck and Caterpillar report before the open; Amazon after the close.
- Fri 30 Oct, 8:30am: third-quarter employment cost index, per the BLS. ExxonMobil and Chevron report before the open.
- Next week: Apple reports on Monday 2 November, call at 5:00pm; US midterm elections on Tuesday 3 November.
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