SPX: S&P 500 Wipes Out October Gains to Snap 5-Month Run as Fear Grips Tech Sector

Broad-based index plummeted as big tech’s earnings got off to a bumpy start. Nasdaq shed nearly 3% on the day.

• The S&P 500 index erased whatever gains it had made during October by the time it closed out the final trading session of the month yesterday. The broad index fell 1.9% — the most in nearly two months — after investors got spooked by tepid tech earnings data. With that move, the Wall Street stock average snapped a five-month winning streak and a 29-day run without a daily loss of 1% or more. The Dow Jones fell 0.9%.
• The Nasdaq Composite did even worse because of its concentration of tech heavyweights, which sold off massively. The index washed out 2.8% on Thursday and ended the month lower by 0.5%. The culprit was a slate of tech-dense earnings with Microsoft MSFT and Meta META failing to please investors. A bright spot today might be Amazon AMZN, which shot up 6% pre-market on solid earnings, while Apple AAPL didn’t do so well despite quarterly revenue growth.
• On the economic front, October’s jobs data is knocking at the door already, not giving markets any time to rest up. The nonfarm payrolls report is expected to show labor-market expansion by 106,000 new hires, up from a scorching 254,000. Anything absurdly higher would complicate the Federal Reserve’s timeline for interest rate cuts. A number below would indicate a struggling economy. In any case, prepare for volatility across markets.