If you pay attention to financial markets, the main word you’ve probably heard lately is “selloff.” Expand it to two words, and it’s “tech selloff.”
Technology stocks and especially those related to artificial intelligence did have a lousy month. Among the headlines: Chipmaker Intel’s stock fell by a massive 45% in October. The stock of Alphabet, Google’s parent, fell by 19% during the month, wiping $758 billion off its market value, its biggest monthly loss ever. Even the mighty Nvidia was down 10% for the month.
The market must be in turmoil, right? Actually, not at all. Dramatic moves dominate the news but underlying stability does not. And there are signs of a reasonably healthy market that’s starting to impose discipline on high-flying tech stocks, which might be the best thing that can happen.
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We’ll tell the story in charts. First, here’s how the stock market has performed this year. Despite a slight drop in October, the S&P 500 is still up 10.7% in 2026. The tech-heavy Nasdaq took a hit recently but is up 9.4% for the year.
Here’s a snapshot of the October tech selloff. The overall stock market fell by just 1.1% in October. The broad tech industry fell by 7.5%, while the semiconductor sector, one of the AI bellwethers, fell by 13.2%.
Is the AI selloff dragging down other sectors? Not really. Of the 11 sectors in the S&P 500 index, only three declined in October. Eight others rose. Here’s the breakdown: