Nasdaq 100 enters third correction of 2026 as Big Tech earnings disappoint

The Nasdaq 100 correction this week is the tech-heavy index’s third of 2026. The Nasdaq 100 fell as much as 4.5% on Friday, taking its decline from the most recent peak to more than 10%, the usual definition of a technical correction, as investors dumped big technology stocks after a run of disappointing earnings.

What triggered the selloff

The week’s 3% slide followed weak results from Alphabet, the owner of Google, and Amazon, two companies at the forefront of spending on artificial intelligence. Earnings from Intel and ServiceNow also set off steep falls in their shares.

Market strategists said the damage was broad. With the whole sector under pressure, the fall in tech has spilled over into the wider US stock market, according to Matt Maley of Miller Tabak.

A central worry is whether the huge sums spent on AI will pay off. Steve Sosnick of Interactive Brokers said investors who long assumed AI investment would earn outsized returns are now asking harder questions about returns on capital, and in some cases about getting their capital back at all. Many tech companies have also shifted from generating large amounts of cash to borrowing heavily, which has added to the swings in the sector.

A volatile year for tech

This is the third time in 2026 that the Nasdaq 100 has fallen 10% from a high. The first came at the outbreak of the Iran war, and the second during a selloff in semiconductor stocks over the summer.

The last time US markets saw three or more 10% swings in a single year was 2022. That year, surging Covid-era inflation and the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate hikes pushed US stocks into a bear market.

Key numbers

• Friday’s intraday fall: up to 4.5%
• Decline from recent peak: more than 10%
• Weekly drop: about 3%
• Corrections in 2026 so far: 3

What happens next

Investors will watch the rest of the earnings season closely, especially results from companies tied to AI spending, for signs of whether the selling pressure in technology stocks eases or spreads further.