Nasdaq 100 Records Worst Week In 18 Months As Investors Steer Clear Of Chipmakers — AAPL, MSTR, UBER, SOXX In Focus

Oct 16, 2026
nasdaq-100-records-worst-week-in-18-months-as-investors-steer-clear-of-chipmakers-—-aapl,-mstr,-uber,-soxx-in-focus
  • The S&P 500 ended Friday 1.1% lower, the Nasdaq 100 fell 2.5%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.3%.

  • CoreWeave recorded its worst week since November last year.

  • Tesla introduced the Roadster sports car, a prototype designed in collaboration with SpaceX.

U.S. stock indices dropped on Friday, with the Nasdaq 100 recording its worst week in over a year and a half, pulled down by weakness in chip stocks.

The S&P 500 ended Friday 1.1% lower, the Nasdaq 100 fell 2.5%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.3%. The Russell 2000, which tracks small-cap stocks, ended 1.7% lower.

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S&P 500 futures slipped 0.2%, while Nasdaq-100 futures dropped 0.7%. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose just 22 points.

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) dropped 1.2%, and the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (DIA) eased 0.5%. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq-100 tracking Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) fell 2.5% on Friday.

Meanwhile, the VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) and the iShares Semiconductor ETF fell between 3% and 4% amid weakness in Micron Tech (MU), Nvidia (NVDA), Broadcom (AVGO), and most other silicon makers. The broader Vanguard Information Technology ETF (VGT) dropped 3%.

The Roundhill Memory ETF (DRAM) fell about 6% on Friday, with most memory chip stocks in the red.

Retail sentiment on Stocktwits for QQQ, SPY, and DIA was ‘bearish’ with ‘high’ message volumes.

US Market Drivers

Index

Move

Close

Dow Jones Industrial Average

-0.3%

52,002.41

S&P 500

-1.1%

7,659.44

Nasdaq 100

-2.5%

29,187.55

Anxiety rose among market participants over excessive spending and debt tech firms are taking on to finance AI expansion. Neocloud provider CoreWeave saw its stock tumble almost 12%, extending weekly losses to 25% as its overall debt load ballooned past $51 billion.

Michael Rosen, chief investment officer at Angeles, told CNBC that while mounting debt warrants close monitoring, current levels remain far from systemic danger. “Obviously, increased debt issuance is something to observe and continue to watch and be concerned about if it continues to get to levels of excessiveness. But we’re not remotely close to that right now.”

Alternatively, Nvidia’s chief Jensen Huang has been publicly advocating for the AI industry by saying the benefits of the technology will soon outweigh the concerns of investors.

“All of this is going to pass, and the reason for that is very simple,” Huang told Bloomberg during an event in Berlin. “It’s going to be transformative. It’s going to impact in a very positive way every single industry and every single country. There’s no question it will continue, and we’re at the beginning of that.”

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