Alphabet Shares Plunge 12% on Weak Q3, Triggering Death Cross as RSI Hits 15-Year Low

Alphabet (GOOGL) shares fell more than 12% on Thursday, marking the stock's largest single-day decline on record and erasing $500 billion in market value, after third-quarter results missed expectations and core search growth slowed. The drop pushed Alphabet's 50-day simple moving average to $340.26, below its 200-day average of $340.93, forming a "death cross" — a bearish technical signal — for the first time in 319 trading days, according to FactSet. The stock has lost over 16% since early October. Historical data offers a mixed picture. Per Dow Jones Market Data, Alphabet's five death crosses over the past decade were followed by gains six months later in four instances, with an average six-month gain of 21.9%. The most recent, on April 8, 2025, coincided with a bottom. But after the March 9, 2022 cross, the stock fell another 37.5% before bottoming about eight months later. Alphabet's 14-day relative strength index fell to 23.1, its lowest since June 2011 and well below the 30 oversold threshold, signaling concentrated selling pressure.