Wall Street packed a lot into the final week of October. Stocks began the week on an upbeat note, with Monday’s Nasdaq Composite gaining 0.82%, the S&P 500 rising 0.70% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average adding 0.28%. Enthusiasm surrounding Anthropic’s IPO filing helped revive interest in artificial intelligence-related stocks as investors prepared for a heavy week of corporate earnings and a Federal Reserve decision. [cnbc.com]

As the week progressed, however, AI enthusiasm increasingly gave way to AI scrutiny. Big technology earnings put an important question front and center: companies are spending enormous amounts of money building artificial-intelligence infrastructure, but investors increasingly want to see how those investments translate into sustainable revenue, margins and free cash flow. That concern contributed to pressure on technology shares late in the week. [thestreet.com], [cnbc.com]

Thursday offered a good example of how unusual the market beneath the surface has become. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 1.4%, while the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average each declined about 0.3%. Yet nine of the S&P’s 11 sectors actually finished higher, with health care and real estate among the leaders. That’s an interesting reminder that the headline indexes don’t always tell the whole story. [finance.yahoo.com]

And then came Friday. As of around midday today, October 30, technology was bearing the brunt of another selloff: the Nasdaq Composite was down roughly 2.9%, compared with a decline of about 1.8% for the S&P 500 and 0.8% for the Dow. Amazon declined after its results fell short of Wall Street expectations, while Intel plunged roughly 29% after providing a weak outlook. AMD, Nvidia and Broadcom were also under pressure. Meanwhile, money was rotating toward more defensive areas, with names including Walmart, Coca-Cola, Merck and Amgen gaining. [cnbc.com]

Oil added another wrinkle. Friday morning, Brent crude was around $113 a barrel and West Texas Intermediate around $104, while ExxonMobil and Chevron reported earnings helped by stronger refining margins. [finance.yahoo.com]

This commentary is for informational purposes only and is not intended as investment advice. Past performance does not guarantee future results.