Nasdaq 100 Set to Shed Over $2 Trillion in October as AI Spending Fears Mount

The Nasdaq 100 is on pace to lose more than $2 trillion in market value this month, a decline slightly larger than SpaceX's entire valuation, as investors question whether massive AI outlays will deliver returns fast enough. The tech-heavy index has fallen more than 5.8% since the start of October amid a broader AI trade selloff. Hyperscalers Meta, Alphabet and Amazon have all raised capital expenditure forecasts to accelerate AI infrastructure buildouts, unsettling investors as rising borrowing costs make debt-funded spending more expensive and harder to justify. Alphabet posted its largest single-day drop on record Thursday (the 29th) after search advertising missed expectations and cash burn accelerated, while Meta's planned record $97.5 billion fundraising stoked dilution concerns. Microsoft and SpaceX bucked the gloom, with results showing AI investment beginning to pay off. Microsoft plans roughly $25 billion in U.S. investment-grade bond sales, its first in more than nine years. Morgan Stanley expects AI infrastructure capex to top $1 trillion next year; JPMorgan projects $5.5 trillion globally by 2030.