Nasdaq Drops Over 1% as OpenAI Annualized Revenue Misses Expectations; Tech, AI Hardware Stocks Sold Off, Micron Falls Nearly 5%

TradingKey - OpenAI's annualized revenue was $20 billion lower than previously reported, dampening market trading sentiment as U.S. stocks closed mixed. Tech and AI hardware stocks faced a sell-off.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.10% to 51,231.64; the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 1.25% to 27,193.34; and the S&P 500 Index fell 0.47% to 7,765.36.

Tech Stock Performance

Micron (MU) fell 4.79% to close at $1,035.84.

Samsung Electronics expects its third-quarter operating profit to surpass 100 trillion won for the first time, reaching 107.4 trillion won (about $80.2 billion) and setting a new quarterly profit record for global technology companies. Consolidated revenue reached 195 trillion won (about $146 billion), missing market expectations of 206.8 trillion won previously estimated by FactSet. Operating profit reached 107.4 trillion won (about $80.2 billion), up 782.50% year-over-year and 20.01% quarter-over-quarter, with an operating profit margin as high as 55.1%. This marks another single-quarter profit record for Samsung after setting an all-time high in the second quarter.

Among major tech stocks, Apple (AAPL) rose 1.11%; as for decliners, Broadcom (AVGO) fell 4.35%, SpaceX (SPCX) dropped 4.19%, TSMC (TSM) fell 3.01%, Nvidia (NVDA) declined 2.94%, Amazon (AMZN) fell 2.25%, Microsoft (MSFT) slipped 1.35%, Tesla (TSLA) dropped 0.74%, Google (GOOGL) shed 0.63%, and Meta Platforms (META) edged down 0.06%.

[Source: FutuBull]

The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index fell 3.39% to close at 12,623.72 points. Among its 30 constituents, 29 declined and 1 advanced.

Among memory stocks, SanDisk (SNDK) fell 4.90%, Micron Technology (MU) dropped 4.79%, SK Hynix (SKHY) declined 4.35%, Seagate Technology (STX) slipped 4.05%, and Western Digital (WDC) shed 2.99%.

Company News

Google Launches Gemini Agent: Capable of Writing Code, Creating Content, and Autonomously Executing Tasks

At the "Gemini at Work 2026" conference, Google Cloud announced the launch of the Gemini Universal Work Agent, positioning it as a general-purpose AI agent for enterprise work. The product is designed to allow users to directly access internal business information, tools, and systems through a single prompt window to complete various tasks. Unlike traditional AI assistants that primarily offer Q&A and content generation, Gemini can understand user needs in the context of the enterprise's full business background, autonomously plan tasks, invoke corresponding skills and tools, and connect to customer business systems to execute work.

OpenAI's Annualized Revenue Is $20 Billion Lower Than Previously Reported

According to the Financial Times, OpenAI recently disclosed to investors that its annualized revenue was close to $50 billion as of the end of September, significantly lower than the $70 billion reported by the newspaper and other media late last month. People familiar with the matter said the difference stemmed from investors attempting to make direct comparisons between the annualized revenues of OpenAI and its rival Anthropic, but the two companies use different accounting methodologies: Anthropic includes sales generated through cloud partners such as AWS and Google Cloud in its revenue, whereas OpenAI does not. Previously, investors adjusted OpenAI's revenue methodology to calculate that its annualized revenue reached $40 billion in August, and subsequently extrapolated $70 billion based on disclosures to investors that revenue grew by more than 70%. OpenAI declined to comment.

Trump Bought Up to $25 Million in Meta Stock in August

Latest financial disclosure documents released by U.S. President Donald Trump show that accounts under his name executed 517 securities transactions in August. The total value of these transactions ranged from approximately $74.3 million to $273.3 million, with the largest single transaction being a purchase of Meta stock valued between $5 million and $25 million. The documents also disclosed that Trump's accounts purchased $1 million to $5 million in SpaceX bonds on August 18. Two days later, Trump signed a policy aimed at expanding U.S. commercial space transportation, making the timing between the investment and the policy signing a key point of interest in the disclosure.

Industry & Macro News

Trump Says U.S. Will Not Attack Iran Before Midterm Elections

U.S. President Donald Trump stated that the United States will not attack Iran before the Nov. 3 midterm elections. Posting on Truth Social, he wrote: "We will never attack Iran before the midterm elections." He added that the U.S. is engaged in "productive discussions" with Tehran. Trump stated that the U.S. naval blockade against Iran will remain in place and reiterated that Tehran will not be allowed to obtain nuclear weapons.

Fed's Waller: Further Rate Hikes Still Needed to Bring Inflation Back to 2% Target, But Hikes Need Not Occur at Consecutive Policy Meetings

Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller stated that the Fed still needs to raise interest rates further to bring inflation back down to its 2% target, but rate hikes do not need to occur at consecutive policy meetings, allowing officials to flexibly time their moves based on economic data. Speaking Thursday at an event organized by the Central Bank of Turkey in Istanbul, Waller said that if economic data continues to meet expectations, he expects further rate hikes will be required, but these do not need to be scheduled at back-to-back meetings and should instead be completed within a reasonable timeframe. Waller also noted that the 2027 dot plot might reflect a trajectory of raising rates early in the year followed by cuts. He pointed out that the forecasts released in September showed the median Fed official expected one more rate hike this year, but cautioned that when interpreting the 2027 dot plot, some officials' projections may incorporate rate hikes early in the year followed by cuts later in the year.