- Alphabet Class A fell 12.64%; the Nasdaq Composite lost 1.38%.
- The S&P 500 and Dow declined modestly, while the Russell 2000 gained 1.01%.
- These figures describe October 29’s regular-session close, not live or futures prices.
Alphabet’s Class A shares lost 12.64% on October 29, helping drag the Nasdaq Composite down 1.38%. That looks like a straightforward market rout. The uncomfortable detail: most stocks were having a better day.12
The regular-session closes were S&P 500 at 7,720.39, down 0.30%; Dow at 52,342.56, down 0.25%; and Nasdaq at 26,184.72. These are cash-index closes, not overnight futures or live prices.1
Small caps went the other way. The Russell 2000 gained 1.01%, while InvestingLive reported substantially more S&P 500 advancers than decliners. Apple also gained 1.48%, despite the heavy pressure on Alphabet.12
AP linked Alphabet’s fall to disappointing growth and renewed concern about returns on enormous AI investments. The company’s size gave that selloff an outsized influence on the headline indexes.3
This is the distinction worth keeping when Friday’s headlines arrive: weakness in dominant technology companies can sink a benchmark while many of its other constituents climb. A falling index is a weighted result, not a head count.
Bloomboff’s take
The AI trade had a bruising day. Calling it a universal stampede for the exits would miss the people happily walking in through another door. Look at what fell, and at what did not.
