Review & Preview: A Tech Earnings Storm

Oct 30, 2025 18:14:00 -0400 by Connor Smith | #Markets #Review & Preview

The Goldilocks Problem. The stock market cruised through much of the fall riding hopes for artificial intelligence spending, a trade pact with China, and a more accommodative Federal Reserve. Today, Wall Street got a bit of a reality check.

The S&P 500 fell 1% on the day, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 110 points, or 0.2% The Nasdaq Composite shed 1.6%.

Wall Street continued to fret about yesterday’s hawkish comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. While a trade pact between the U.S. and China lowered the temperature between the two countries, the market was already pricing in some kind of easing tensions.

Earnings from Meta Platforms, Microsoft, and Alphabet all featured continued enthusiasm for AI spending, but investors saw clouds surrounding Meta and Microsoft’s updates, especially.

Meta sank 11% today after the company reported that its operating margin dropped to 40% in the third quarter. Microsoft’s comments that demand for AI was “significantly ahead of capacity” seemed to spark some selling, though it’s important to put the moves in the context of this year’s massive rallies.

Mizuho’s Jordan Klein likened last night’s earnings to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup. He writes:

Winner take all after a long wait and lots of hand-wringing during the stressful lead-up. Would your key players show up and perform (like Gretzky), or fold like a wet newspaper under the spotlight (fill in the blank hockey fans). But after all the MSFT, GOOG, META, Samsung, NOW and KLAC earnings reports and mgmt. commentary, MY KEY SUMMATION AND TAKE-AWAY IS THE FOLLOWING – EXPECT MORE OF THE SAME. Winners continue to win, laggards likely still lag, and we will SEE A LOT MORE CAPEX SPENDING FOR MORE AI COMPUTE CAPACITY. Rinse and repeat.

The Roundhill Magnificent Seven ETF sank 3.1%. Things could look a lot different tomorrow morning. More on that below.

Taken together, the stock market was grappling with its rosy predictions for a “Goldilocks” path through major events. How often does everything in life go “just right?”

Company

Last

Chg

Chg%

Dow Jones Industrial Average

47,562.87

40.75

0.09%

S&P 500 Index

6,840.20

17.86

0.26%

NASDAQ Composite Index

23,724.96

143.81

0.61%

Market Data as of

The Hot Stock: C.H. Robinson Worldwide +19.7%
The Biggest Loser: Chipotle Mexican Grill -18.2%

Best Sector: Real Estate +0.6%
Worst Sector: Consumer Discretionary -2.3%

Created with Highcharts 9.0.1Thursday, Oct. 30Index performanceSource: FactSetAs of Nov. 3, 3:45 p.m. ET

Created with Highcharts 9.0.1Nov. 3-1.00-0.75-0.50-0.2500.250.500.751.001.25%Nasdaq CompositeS&P 500Dow industrials

Big Tech Strikes Back

Magnificent Seven earnings season has been a bit of a dud; Apple and Amazon.com to the rescue!

Both stocks were rallying in late trading tonight after reporting quarterly results.

Apple’s earnings of $1.85 a share beat analyst expectations of $1.78, while Amazon.com topped the consensus with earnings of $1.95 a share. But it wasn’t just earnings reports that Wall Street was interested in. Barron’s Tae Kim reports:

Revenue for Amazon’s closely watched cloud unit, AWS, was $33 billion versus $32.5 billion analyst estimate.

Amazon said revenue for the current quarter would be between $206 billion to $213 billion, versus the $208.4 billion average analyst estimate.

“We continue to see strong demand in AI and core infrastructure, and we’ve been focused on accelerating capacity,” Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said in a press release.

For Apple, Barron’s Adam Levine reports that Mac sales jumped 13% to $8.7 billion, while the company’s services segment saw revenue rise 15% to $28.8 billion. The stock was initially down, which could be because iPhone sales of $49 billion were a billion dollars below expectations. But it quickly bounced back.

The rise in both stocks could be a boon for a market looking for its next big catalyst.

You can read Barron’s coverage of Apple’s earnings here and Amazon earnings here.

The Calendar

AbbVie, Cboe Global Markets, Charter Communications, Chevron, Church & Dwight, Colgate-Palmolive, Dominion Energy, Exxon Mobile, Linde, LyondellBasell Industries, T. Rowe Price Group, and W.W. Grainer report quarterly results tomorrow.

What We’re Reading Today

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