Key Highlights

● Software, Cybersecurity and memory stocks fell sharply on Friday, October 30, 2026.

● Datadog was the S&P 500's worst decliner after Intel.

● The selloff did not stop at processors.

● Investors questioned how long AI spending will continue.

The technology selloff on Friday, October 30, 2026, did not stop at processors. Software, cybersecurity and memory stocks all fell sharply as investors questioned how much companies will keep spending on AI and cloud infrastructure. The software ETF IGV, the cybersecurity ETF HACK and a DRAM memory index all closed lower, according to market data.

The broader market had its worst day since June. The S&P 500 fell 140.32 points to 7,580.07, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 572.25 points to 51,770.31 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 747.73 points to 25,437.00. Technology was the worst-performing sector.

Software and cybersecurity slide

Datadog (NASDAQ:DDOG) was the S&P 500's worst decliner after Intel (NASDAQ:INTC), according to market data, with no company-specific news. It fell in the broad software selloff after Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Intel reported. AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP), Snowflake (NYSE:SNOW), MongoDB (NASDAQ:MDB), Shopify (NASDAQ:SHOP) and F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) also fell, along with smaller names including JFrog (NASDAQ:FROG), Elastic, DigitalOcean (NYSE:DOCN) and Bandwidth. Most moved with the sector rather than on their own news; F5's strong quarterly results earlier in the week were not enough to hold it up.

Reports differed during the day. Market data noted that software names were among the few gainers at one point intraday, but the software ETF closed lower.

Cybersecurity and internet-infrastructure names joined the decline. Cloudflare (NYSE:NET), Fastly (NYSE:FSLY) and Okta (NASDAQ:OKTA) fell steeply on Friday, moving with the sector. The group was already under pressure: Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) fell sharply on Thursday, the same day ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) had its worst day on record.

Memory's peak worries

Memory and storage stocks fell hard despite strong demand. Sandisk (NASDAQ:SNDK) delivered a beat-and-raise quarter, with fiscal first-quarter Earnings of $49.51 a share against $46.41 expected and Revenue of $11.0 billion against $10.70 billion. It guided second-quarter earnings to $55 to $57 a share, above the $53.35 estimate, and announced an 8-for-1 Stock Split effective November 20. The shares still tumbled on fears that memory pricing is peaking.

Micron (NASDAQ:MU), Seagate (NASDAQ:STX) and Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) also fell with the group. a chief Investment officer said Micron is now "making very good AI chips," according to market data. Intel's warning tied the PC slump directly to memory: "In recent weeks, our customers began signaling a PC slowdown based on the memory prices and availability," CEO Lip-Bu Tan said on the company's call.

The trigger

Intel's fourth-quarter outlook fell short and the company warned of cash burn this year, sending its stock to its biggest one-day drop on record. Amazon's trailing 12-month free Cash Flow was negative $42.4 billion, and the company signaled Capital spending would rise again next year. Together with Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL)'s record selloff on Thursday, the reports raised doubts about the returns on AI investment.

A trading specialist said: "A lot of them kind of got ahead of themselves. It's all earnings based and right now, they're not producing." A senior market analyst said that "strong AI Demand is no longer enough on its own."

Investors rotated into energy, consumer staples, utilities and health care, which hit a record high according to market data. Six of the 11 sectors rose.

What to watch

Datadog reports next week, and Palantir (NASDAQ:PLTR) reports on Monday, November 2, giving software investors fresh data. AppLovin also reports soon. Sandisk's split takes effect November 20. The midterm elections on Tuesday, November 3, and the October jobs report on Friday, November 6, will shape the broader backdrop, along with Federal Reserve rate expectations ahead of December.