Intel closed down 28.58% on Friday, a day after publishing a quarter in which sales grew 21% to $16.5 billion. Its fourth-quarter sales forecast, at $15 billion to $16 billion, put even the high end below the reported quarter. The company projected adjusted earnings of $0.25 a share, against $0.52 just reported. Intel also flagged a PC slowdown it expected to persist at least through the first half of next year. The results and the outlook told materially different stories.
The Nasdaq Composite fell 2.9%, according to Reuters. The Nasdaq-100 ETF QQQ fell 3.47%, against a 1.77% decline in SPY. That gap matters: Friday was a broad selloff, but exposure to the largest growth companies made the decline more severe. Semiconductor ETF SMH fell 6.98%. Those are distinct benchmarks, not interchangeable readings of the same index.
INTC against SPY
35 common trading sessions · first close = 100
View the closing-price data
| Date | INTC | SPY |
|---|---|---|
| 2026-09-14 | $97.19 | $760.88 |
| 2026-09-15 | $97.14 | $757.39 |
| 2026-09-16 | $101.05 | $754.05 |
| 2026-09-17 | $108.80 | $762.60 |
| 2026-09-18 | $108.60 | $761.69 |
| 2026-09-21 | $121.78 | $773.50 |
| 2026-09-22 | $123.86 | $773.38 |
| 2026-09-23 | $122.60 | $767.81 |
| 2026-09-24 | $127.39 | $767.18 |
| 2026-09-25 | $123.00 | $771.35 |
| 2026-09-28 | $116.03 | $765.61 |
| 2026-09-29 | $115.93 | $764.20 |
| 2026-09-30 | $120.23 | $762.63 |
| 2026-10-01 | $120.00 | $763.99 |
| 2026-10-02 | $119.33 | $769.64 |
| 2026-10-05 | $116.19 | $774.83 |
| 2026-10-06 | $112.50 | $779.09 |
| 2026-10-07 | $113.12 | $777.22 |
| 2026-10-08 | $107.08 | $773.93 |
| 2026-10-09 | $104.70 | $778.57 |
| 2026-10-12 | $101.35 | $778.10 |
| 2026-10-13 | $102.81 | $778.01 |
| 2026-10-14 | $98.12 | $769.60 |
| 2026-10-15 | $95.37 | $771.79 |
| 2026-10-16 | $89.85 | $763.25 |
| 2026-10-19 | $92.03 | $766.48 |
| 2026-10-20 | $91.69 | $769.05 |
| 2026-10-21 | $92.96 | $773.09 |
| 2026-10-22 | $85.49 | $763.96 |
| 2026-10-23 | $86.96 | $759.97 |
| 2026-10-26 | $90.47 | $765.37 |
| 2026-10-27 | $93.74 | $769.66 |
| 2026-10-28 | $95.53 | $772.31 |
| 2026-10-29 | $92.07 | $769.36 |
| 2026-10-30 | $65.76 | $755.72 |
The segment disclosure explains why the headline could look healthier than the outlook. Intel’s client and physical-AI group generated $8.1 billion, down 5% year over year. Data Center and AI generated $7.3 billion, up 78%. Stronger server demand did not make the decline in client sales disappear. Intel Foundry’s $6.7 billion segment figure also includes internal transactions; adding it to consolidated sales would double count activity.
Amazon showed a different split, between operating results and spending. It reported $28.1 billion in quarterly operating income, against $17.4 billion a year earlier. Yet trailing twelve-month free cash flow swung from an inflow of $14.8 billion to an outflow of $42.4 billion, as equipment purchases increased. Those are different accounting measures over different periods. Together they explain why a stronger operating quarter did not settle the debate over how quickly investment will pay back.
Amazon’s release supplied evidence of strong demand: AWS sales grew 39% to $46 billion. It also maintained an expectation for about $220 billion in 2026 cash capital expenditures. That is not a measure of cloud profitability, and AWS revenue alone cannot establish the return on that investment. Friday’s trading put the emphasis on what investors still need to see: guidance holding up, and operating gains turning into cash after investment.
| Measure | Reported figure | Context |
|---|---|---|
| INTC | −28.58% | October 30 close to close |
| QQQ | −3.47% | Nasdaq-100 ETF, not Nasdaq Composite |
| Intel Q4 sales | $15–16 billion | Company outlook |