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MARKET BRIEFING · US

Meta's plan to spend more on AI is exactly what pulled chip stocks down more than 6%.

October 22, 2026 · Read the Korean original

Major indices

  • Dow +0.02%
  • S&P 500 7,663.43 -1.21%
  • Nasdaq 26,008.86 -2.60%
  • PHLX Semiconductor -6.72%

Oil and bond yields drove the overnight US session. Brent crude rose 4% to settle at $113.17 a barrel, its highest close since early May, and WTI settled at $99.47, CNBC reported, after reports that the United States could resume strikes against Iran. A jump like that in oil usually drags yields up with it; this time the opposite happened. Money leaving equities went into Treasuries, pushing the 10-year yield down more than 17 basis points to 4.97%, its lowest in about a month, while the 2-year fell to 4.66%. CNBC described it as a flight to safety in which Middle East tension, doubts about AI spending and French fiscal worries all landed at once. The character of the day is that stocks could not hold up even with yields falling this much.

The indexes did not move together. The Nasdaq fell 2.6% to 26,008.86, its worst day since June, and the S&P 500 lost 1.2% to 7,663.43, while the Dow edged up 0.02%. The Russell 2000 of smaller companies also rose 0.1%. The AP reported that weakness in technology was heavy enough to mask strength across the rest of the market, where more stocks actually rose than fell. Judged by the indexes it looked like a rout, but it was not a day when the whole market broke.

The epicenter was Meta (META, social media and advertising), which reported the previous evening. Revenue beat expectations, but the company raised the low end of this year's capital spending outlook to $135 billion and pointed as high as $145 billion, turned free cash flow negative for the first time since going public, and said it would fund AI investment with non-voting shares. Plenty of brokerages raised their price targets, and the stock still fell close to 7%. A plan to spend more was read as an invoice rather than as evidence of growth. On top of that, Lam Research (LRCX, etch and deposition equipment) posted record revenue yet cited supply chain constraints and guided the coming quarter below expectations, sending its shares down 11.8%; the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index dropped 6.72% to its lowest close since July 29. AMD (AMD, CPUs & GPUs) fell 8.1% and ASML (ASML, lithography equipment) 6.93%. Tesla (TSLA, EVs and autonomy) cut this year's capital spending from more than $25 billion to around $20 billion and lowered its long-term sales target, closing 3.08% lower. Procter & Gamble (PG, household and personal products) and Blackstone (BX, alternative asset management), by contrast, each rose about 6% on results.

Three threads may diverge in Korea today. For semiconductors, one sharp day in the US chip index and an 8% drop in SK Hynix's ADR carry straight over as pressure. The trigger, though, was an equipment maker's supply chain comment and the cost of AI investment rather than memory demand, so the question is whether foreign investors view memory names through the same lens. For EV batteries and autos, Tesla's smaller capital budget and lower long-term target can be read as trimming order expectations. Power infrastructure sits differently. Meta did not cut capital spending but raised it, so demand for data-center power and equipment itself is unchanged; what the market disliked was how that money is being raised. Lower US yields, for their part, ease valuation pressure a little.

What is confirmed is the index moves, the oil and yield figures, and the results and investment plans the companies disclosed themselves. The reading that the cost of AI investment shows up before the returns do is press and market interpretation, and next week's Federal Reserve meeting and the remaining big tech reports will test it again.

Korean industries to watch today

  • Semiconductors · A 6.72% drop in the US chip index and an 8% fall in SK Hynix's ADR
  • EV batteries · Tesla's smaller capital budget and lower long-term sales target
  • Power infrastructure · Meta raised capital spending, leaving data-center power demand intact

Watchlist stocks in the news

  • Meta (META) Close -6.98% · Revenue beat, but raising this year's capex outlook to $135-145 billion and posting its first negative free cash flow since listing put the cost of AI in focus. (Yahoo Finance)
  • Lam Research (LRCX) Close -11.80% · Record revenue was overshadowed by supply chain constraints and next-quarter guidance below estimates, dragging chip equipment names down with it. (Yahoo Finance)
  • AMD (AMD) Close -8.10% · Swept up in the chip selloff spread by Lam Research's supply chain comment and AI spending worries, with no company-specific news. (Yahoo Finance)
  • ASML (ASML) Close -6.93% · Fell alongside peers as Lam Research's guidance shock spread into doubts about the equipment investment cycle. (Yahoo Finance)
  • NVIDIA (NVDA) Close -4.40% · As the bellwether of the AI trade, it bore the brunt of selling as doubts over returns on AI spending flared again. (Investing.com)
  • Broadcom (AVGO) · Could not escape the sector-wide decline and fell more than 4% despite hopes for custom AI chip demand. (Yahoo Finance)
  • Micron (MU) · Slid with the chip index despite no memory-specific news of its own. (Yahoo Finance)
  • Sandisk (SNDK) · Followed the broad chip selloff lower without any NAND pricing news. (Yahoo Finance)
  • Tesla (TSLA) Close -3.08% · Earnings per share beat, but operating profit missed, this year's capital spending was cut to around $20 billion and the long-term sales target was lowered. (CNBC)
  • ARM (ARM) Close -7.28% · Caught in the broad chip decline even though the day's news had little to do with design IP demand. (Yahoo Finance)
  • IBM (IBM) · Quarterly revenue and earnings both beat, but keeping the full-year revenue growth target at 4-5% disappointed investors hoping for an upgrade. (CNBC)
  • PG (PG) · Beat on both revenue and earnings in its fiscal first quarter, drawing money into defensive consumer names on a day technology broke down. (CNBC)
  • BX (BX) · Rose after third-quarter profit came in above Wall Street estimates. (CNBC)
  • LUV (LUV) · Held onto gains as quarterly results offset a cut in its full-year per-share earnings outlook to $2.60-$2.85. (CNBC)
  • SPOT (SPOT) · Jumped around 9% in premarket trading after results, a rare bright spot among technology names. (CNBC)

Sources (Korean-language)

This market briefing was compiled by AI from this site's own price and filing data together with public news reports, and translated from the Korean original. Please check the sources below before relying on it.

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