U.S. stock futures retreated Thursday as investors reassessed the cost and payoff of artificial intelligence investment at Tesla and Meta Platforms, putting technology shares under pressure after their latest earnings.
At 8:38 a.m. ET (12:38 UTC), Dow E-minis had lost 273 points, or 0.51%. S&P 500 E-minis were down 73.25 points, or 0.94%, while Nasdaq 100 E-minis had fallen 482 points, or 1.61%, Reuters reported.
The pullback followed a technology-led advance in the previous session.
Tesla reported third-quarter revenue of about $28.0 billion, roughly flat from a year earlier, and capital spending of $4.732 billion. On an Oct. 21 earnings call, Chief Financial Officer Vaibhav Taneja said Tesla was revising its 2026 capital spending guidance to about $20 billion. Tesla's Q2 SEC filing had projected spending above $25 billion for the year.
Meta reported third-quarter revenue of $64.60 billion, up 26% from a year earlier. Its $34.91 billion in quarterly capital expenditures includes principal payments on finance leases. Meta set its 2026 spending range at $135 billion to $145 billion, raising the lower end from $130 billion while keeping the upper end unchanged.
Meta said it expects a longer wait for returns from AI investments than from spending on its established business. Reuters reported that investors were weighing the sector's investment costs against the time needed for those projects to pay off.
By noon ET, the Nasdaq Composite had fallen 2% and the S&P 500 was down 1%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average had lost 14 points, less than 0.1%, the Associated Press reported. The AP said investors were concerned about borrowing costs for data centers and AI chips. Demand for U.S. government bonds pushed the 10-year Treasury yield to 5.00% from 5.13% late Wednesday, according to the AP.
The Federal Open Market Committee is scheduled to meet Tuesday and Wednesday, Oct. 27-28, according to the Federal Reserve calendar.
