Nasdaq Futures Fall on AI Spending Fears as Tesla Slides
Nasdaq futures dropped sharply Thursday as investors braced for a volatile premarket session, with weak results and spending cuts from Tesla and Meta reigniting fears about the durability of the artificial-intelligence boom.
Nasdaq 100 futures fell about 1.9%, a drop of more than 500 points, while S&P 500 futures slipped roughly 1.1% and Dow futures lost 0.69%, or 367 points, according to premarket trading data. The slide came just a day after an AI-led rally had lifted markets, underscoring how quickly sentiment has shifted from euphoria to caution.
The futures moves pointed to a sharply lower open on Wall Street, with traders positioning for another day of heavy volume. Premarket losses of this size often force investors to reassess crowded positions, and Thursday was no exception as the AI trade — the engine of this year’s gains — came under fresh scrutiny.
Why Nasdaq futures are falling: AI spending fears
At the heart of Thursday’s selloff is a familiar anxiety: investors are questioning whether the enormous sums pouring into artificial intelligence will ever pay off. The market’s mood was captured by KCM Trade analyst Tim Waterer, who said the market “frets when companies ramp spending, and it frets when they pull it back” — leaving investors uneasy in either direction.
That unease was amplified by mixed corporate results. Tesla cut its 2026 capital-expenditure forecast from $25 billion to $20 billion, a pullback that sent its shares down about 5.3% in premarket trading. Morningstar analyst Seth Goldstein has scrutinized the company’s capital efficiency, and investors appeared to read the reduced spending as a sign of weaker confidence rather than discipline.
Tesla’s pullback is notable because the company’s AI and robotics ambitions have been a major pillar of its valuation. When a company at the center of the AI narrative trims its investment plans, investors tend to read it as a signal about demand and returns across the sector.
Tesla and Meta lead the AI retreat
Meta also weighed on sentiment, slipping about 1.9% after the company created new non-voting shares to help fund its AI expansion. The social-media giant raised the lower end of its annual spending forecast to $135 billion, a reminder of how expensive the AI buildout has become. Meta is also facing a $25 billion privacy judgment in New Mexico, adding to investor worries.
Meta’s decision to issue non-voting shares is designed to raise cash without diluting founder control, but it drew attention to just how much the company is spending to stay in the AI race. Combined with the looming $25 billion privacy judgment, the news gave investors two reasons to sell first and ask questions later.
Chipmakers, bitcoin and global markets join the slide
Semiconductor stocks, the backbone of the AI trade, were hit especially hard. Lam Research dropped between 7% and 8.5% after a weak outlook overshadowed a quarter that beat expectations, with revenue of $8.22 billion and earnings per share of $2.20. IBM fell 5.7% despite beating estimates, and Intel lost 5.1%.
The weakness spread across the chip complex: Nvidia, AMD, Qualcomm, Marvell, Broadcom and Micron all fell between 2.9% and 5.3%. SpaceX dropped 2.3% and Super Micro Computer fell 4.7% — both had been leaders in Wednesday’s rally, making Thursday’s reversal especially sharp.
The breadth of the decline matters as much as its size. When every link in the AI supply chain falls at once — from chip designers to equipment makers to software platforms — it suggests a market-wide rethink rather than company-specific disappointment.
The risk-off mood reached beyond stocks. Bitcoin fell about 3.4% to roughly $81,600, down from around $84,800, while gold — often a haven — slipped about 2% to roughly $4,075 an ounce. The 10-year Treasury yield stood near 5.085%, and Brent crude jumped more than 3% to about $112 a barrel, near a five-month high, after Houthi attacks in Saudi Arabia raised supply concerns.
Crude’s jump added another layer of concern. Energy shocks tend to feed inflation fears, which in turn complicate expectations for interest rates — a double hit for growth stocks already under pressure from the AI spending debate.
Asian markets had already signaled trouble: South Korea’s Kospi fell between 2.2% and 3.5%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 3%, and Japan’s Nikkei slid 2.7%.
What’s next
Investors will get more data points later Thursday, with earnings reports due from Spotify, Blackstone, American Airlines and Honeywell. Analysts will be watching for fresh clues on AI capital spending and whether the pullback in tech is a buying opportunity or the start of a deeper reset. For now, the premarket message is clear: Wall Street is no longer giving AI spending the benefit of the doubt.