Wall Street reels from tech selloff as Nasdaq posts biggest single-day fall since June

US stocks ended Friday's session with significant losses, as concerns over the scale of investments in artificial intelligence (AI) and the time required to generate returns weighed on investor sentiment. Disappointing quarterly performances from Intel and Amazon further fuelled the technology selloff, pushing the Nasdaq composite to its steepest single-day percentage decline since June 5, according to a Reuters report.The Nasdaq plunged 2.86 per cent to settle at 25,437.00, while the S&P 500 shed 1.82 per cent to close at 7,580.07. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also slipped 1.09 per cent, ending the session at 51,770.31.The technology-focused Nasdaq has now retreated 7.8 per cent from its record closing high registered on October 6. The latest wave of selling came after intel and amazon released their quarterly results late on Thursday, prompting investors to reassess the prospects of companies making substantial investments in AI.Intel shares suffered a steep 28.6 per cent decline, while other major chipmakers also witnessed heavy selling. Nvidia dropped 4.2 per cent and AMD lost 10.9 per cent. The broader semiconductor index tumbled 7.2 per cent, taking its monthly decline beyond 15 per cent.Server manufacturers were not spared either, with Dell shares falling 10.8 per cent and HP declining 9.6 per cent."It's fair to say that this week, not just today, has been very much about the future of AI and what that's going to look like, whether there will be a positive return on investment and if so, how quickly," Oliver Pursche, senior vice president at Wealthspire Advisors in New York, told Reuters.Pursche noted that companies delivering results in line with or above elevated market expectations were continuing to perform well, while those missing targets were facing significant selling pressure.The weakness extended beyond individual stocks. The S&P 500's broader technology sector registered its largest monthly percentage decline since March 2025. Meanwhile, the communication services sector recorded its sharpest monthly fall since April 2022.However, the overall corporate earnings picture remained encouraging despite the market downturn. According to LSEG data cited by reuters, 82 per cent of the 299 S&P 500 companies that had announced their third-quarter results had exceeded analysts' consensus estimates. Analysts had projected year-on-year earnings growth of 31.6 per cent for the quarter.Cryptocurrency-linked stocks also came under pressure following reports that hackers had stolen USD 6.3 billion from binance. Shares of coinbase, strategy and robinhood declined between 7.2 per cent and 10.6 per cent.According to the news agency ANI, All three key US stock indices ended the week in the red, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq also posting losses for the month.You use AI every day. Now get your AI Quotient. Take the AIQ test.