U.S. stocks snapped a three-session winning streak Thursday, but the damage was narrow: megacap tech broke lower while small caps and most sectors advanced. Hotter PCE hit before the open, Alphabet kept pressure on growth shares, and defensive buying carried through the afternoon.

Google shed a whopping $500B in market cap after its AI spending overshadowed its advertising growth, a real tough pill to swallow. CEO Sundar Pichai is serving up spoonfuls of sugar for a whopping $1T pill of estimated future data center and compute costs in the search giant’s near future.

For a firm that makes all of its cash selling ads in search results, it is really waking to the reality that everyone will use isolated, headless chatbots to answer questions, and no one is selling ads in there. In contrast, Microsoft was beaten by the market after its report showed nearly 50% growth in AI revenue.

Lo and behold, Amazon’s earnings after the bell fell more to the Google side than the green. The stock sold off as capex stayed high, but earnings missed. Intel dropped like a boulder after it reported declines in computing, physical AI, and global PC shipments.

The Bureau of Economic Analysis reported headline PCE inflation accelerated to 3.6% in September and core PCE rose to 3.1%. Current-dollar spending increased 0.5%, but inflation-adjusted spending was nearly flat, leaving households paying more without buying more. Bitcoin fell 2.7% to about $79,100 by 5:15 pm ET.

Meanwhile, ServiceNow’s growth slowdown and DoorDash’s $17B Instacart deal gave traders two more ways to fight over what growth is worth.

Today’s Briefing:

Amazon reported third-quarter results Thursday after the close, pairing faster cloud growth with a huge AI infrastructure bill and a softer holiday forecast. The mix left Wall Street staring at a business growing quickly while spending even faster.

The RIP: $AMZN ( ▼ 4.25% ) fell 5.7% after hours. EPS of $1.89 missed the $1.97 estimate, while revenue of $201.9B came in just below the $202.3B consensus. A company that pulls in $200B+ in a quarter still burns too much cash.

AWS revenue jumped 39% to $46.0B, and cloud operating income rose to $17.8B from $11.4B. The engine is humming. The fuel bill is the problem: trailing-12-month free cash flow swung to a $42.4B outflow as property and equipment purchases increased by $94.8B, mainly for AI. 🧾

Amazon expects fourth-quarter sales of $240B to $247B, putting the midpoint below Wall Street’s $244.5B estimate. AWS is doing its part. Investors now need the spending boom to start paying rent. ☁️

Amazon traders are split over whether AWS can outrun the AI bill →

Intel reported third-quarter results Thursday after the close, and the stock collapsed as weakness in its core PC-facing business outweighed a huge jump in data center and AI sales.

The RIP: $INTC ( ▼ 3.62% ) sank 17.8% after hours. Client computing and physical AI revenue fell 5% from a year ago to $8.1B, missing estimates, while data center and AI revenue jumped 78% to $7.3B. 💥

Overall Q3 revenue rose 21% to $16.5B, and adjusted EPS more than doubled to $0.52. Intel still expects Q4 revenue of $15B to $16B. But the market did not care about the total beat when its biggest end market went backward.

At least there is still some good news: the U.S. government is nowhere near the red. Its $8.9B deal for 433.3M shares at $20.47 closed Aug. 27, 2025. At $76.71 after hours Thursday, the stake was worth about $33.2B, a paper gain of roughly $24.4B. Yeehaw. 🇺🇸

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ServiceNow’s third-quarter report sent the enterprise-software company to its worst session on record Thursday. Revenue kept growing, but the contracted-revenue outlook showed that the company’s AI momentum has not yet accelerated the broader business.

The RIP: $NOW ( ▼ 26.95% ) crashed 27%. Adjusted EPS of $1.00 missed the $1.02 estimate, while revenue rose 20.5% to $4.11B.

Current remaining performance obligations, the contracted revenue expected over the next 12 months, are projected to grow 18.5% in Q4 after 20.5% growth in Q3. The slowdown landed harder than the earnings miss. 📉

ServiceNow traders are fighting over whether the selloff broke the story →

DoorDash agreed Thursday to acquire Instacart for $17B, combining the largest U.S. restaurant-delivery platform with a grocery specialist as both companies try to make more orders flow through the same driver and merchant networks.

The RIP: $DASH ( ▲ 5.61% ) jumped 5.6%, while $CART ( ▼ 2.24% ) fell 2.2%. The opposite moves say DoorDash investors liked the strategic shortcut more than Instacart holders liked the price.

Reuters reported that the deal is likely to draw FTC scrutiny because the companies overlap in grocery delivery. DoorDash handled 65.1% of restaurant, retail, and grocery delivery orders last year, compared with 25.8% for Uber Eats and 9.1% for Instacart, according to data cited by Reuters. That is a lot of dinner and detergent under one roof. 🛒

Delivery traders are debating whether regulators will spoil the $17B order →

The Fed’s preferred inflation gauge accelerated in September as household spending stopped growing after prices were stripped out. The report landed Thursday, one day after policymakers held rates steady, and kept a December hike in play.

The RIP: Headline PCE rose 0.5% from August and 3.6% from a year ago, up from 3.4%. Core PCE rose 0.3% for the month and 3.1% from a year ago, up from 3.0%. Both are still running well above the Fed’s 2% target. Personal income rose just 0.2%, while the saving rate slipped to 3.8%. Households spent more cash without buying more stuff. 🛒

37.3K WATCHERS · BULLISH · NORMAL ACTIVITY

SanDisk fell 6.3% despite fiscal Q1 revenue surging 378% to $11.03B and an eight-for-one stock split, as bulls celebrated AI-storage demand while skeptics questioned how long memory pricing can stay this hot.

37.1K WATCHERS · BULLISH · HIGH ACTIVITY

Reddit sank 21.5% after U.S. daily active users fell 2% and weekly search referrals dropped by more than one million in October, overshadowing 53% revenue growth and a quarterly earnings beat.

88.4K WATCHERS · BULLISH · HIGH ACTIVITY

Rivian gained 2.0% after third-quarter revenue climbed 38% to $2.16B and management raised its 2026 delivery outlook, giving bulls fresh ammunition even as cash-burn and profitability doubts linger.

138.8K WATCHERS · BEARISH · NORMAL ACTIVITY

Coinbase fell 3.4% after reporting a $718.7M quarterly profit, while transaction revenue dropped 43% to $590.2M, leaving traders split over whether lower costs can offset softer crypto activity.

Bearish 🐻 | Bullish 🐮 | It’s Complicated 😵‍💫

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🛢️ Shell nearly doubles quarterly profit year-on-year as refining margins soar to record high

💰 Rivian third-quarter earnings beat estimates as software revenue, R2 deliveries rise

🤖 INTC Stock Tumbles After-Hours After Q3 PC Slump And Supply Bottlenecks Cloud Fourth-Quarter Guidance

🧬 Was Ralph Nader right about (almost) everything? His challenge to Democrats ahead of the midterm elections

📊 IOVA Stock Heads For Worst Day In Over 17 Months, Retail Says ‘Selling Is Not Done’ – What’s Driving The Fall?

🤝 Hyperliquid's HYPE Jumps 13% as NYSE Owner ICE Moves to Bring Its Perpetual Futures to the US

🪙 The crypto move you missed today, explained before you wake up to it

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