Intel Shares Plunge 29% as Weak Outlook Overshadows Strong Results

What changed

US stocks sold off as Intel’s weak fourth-quarter outlook overshadowed strong quarterly results. Intel forecast revenue of $15 billion to $16 billion and PC shipments falling 25% to 30% sequentially, sending its shares down about 29%, the company’s worst single-day decline since 1974.

The Nasdaq fell 2.86%, the S&P 500 dropped 1.82%, and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index lost more than 7%. Amazon Web Services grew revenue 39%, but its $77.3 billion quarterly capital expenditure exceeded operating cash flow. Bitcoin briefly fell below $76,000 after a reported $6.3 billion Binance hack.

Why it matters

Intel’s numbers show how quickly a decent quarter can be overwhelmed by what comes next. Third-quarter revenue reached $16.51 billion and earnings per share came to $0.52, both above expectations. But the forecast pointed to a shrinking PC market, with Intel expecting a 12% contraction in 2026 and another 10% decline in 2027.

That gap between present performance and future demand drove the market’s reaction. Intel’s decline pulled other chip stocks lower, while technology became the day’s worst-performing sector. The broader selloff also marked three straight weekly declines for the S&P 500, Nasdaq and Dow.

The AWS figures raise a different question: how much spending can accompany rapid growth before investors demand clearer returns? Revenue rose sharply, but capital spending ran ahead of operating cash flow. That makes the next results more important than the headline growth rate alone.

Crypto markets faced a separate shock. The reported Binance loss was not independently confirmed in the account, but the immediate bitcoin move shows how quickly confidence can weaken when a major exchange is associated with a large security incident.

The next tests arrive close together: US midterm elections tomorrow and Apple’s earnings report after the market closes tonight. Those events could either deepen the technology-led retreat or give investors a reason to separate company-specific problems from broader market anxiety.