The Nasdaq 100 index tumbled 4.5% on Friday (October 30th) due to disappointing financial reports from technology stocks, which triggered another round of heavy selling. The index fell more than 10% from its recent high during the session and marked its third pullback of 2026.

The latest round of selling occurred after technology giants Alphabet ( GOOGL ) and Amazon ( AMZN ) announced their financial results, which once again caused investors to worry about the huge costs associated with artificial intelligence.

When an index falls by at least 10% from its recent high, it is considered to have entered a correction phase. The Nasdaq 100 has experienced similar declines earlier this year, during the Iran war, and during the summer sell-off in semiconductor stocks. The last time the index underwent at least three corrections within a year was in 2022, when the Federal Reserve's interest rate hikes put significant pressure on tech stocks.

Meanwhile, Amazon revealed that its free cash flow over the past 12 months was negative $42.4 billion, compared to positive $14.8 billion a year ago.

Why Artificial Intelligence Spending Is Dragging Down Tech Stocks

Despite companies continuously reporting strong demand for artificial intelligence services, investors are increasingly concerned about how long it will take for these investments to yield meaningful returns. Take Amazon as an example; the company disclosed that its cloud business revenue grew by 39% to $46 billion.

However, its capital expenditure for this quarter was approximately $77.3 billion, which is significantly higher than Wall Street's expectations.

Chip manufacturer Intel (INTC) also exacerbated the selling pressure on Friday. The company expects revenue for the fourth quarter to be between $15 billion and $16 billion, which is lower than analysts' forecast of around $17.06 billion.

QQQ ETF: Is it for buying, selling, or holding?

Turning to Wall Street, analysts have given QQQ ETF a consensus rating of "strong buy," based on 89 buy recommendations, 12 hold recommendations, and 0 sell recommendations in the past three months. The charts also show that the average target price for QQQ is $917.94 per share, indicating a potential upside of 28.3%. (See QQQ stock price forecast)

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