Business & Markets — October 31, 2026

AI spending boom shows cracks. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq ended their third straight losing week Friday. Mounting debt and negative cash flow have investors doubting Big Tech’s AI infrastructure spending.

According to TechCrunch, the pullback reflects growing skepticism about whether the billions major technology companies are directing toward artificial intelligence infrastructure can be sustained, given the borrowing and cash burn involved. The concern is not the technology itself but the financing of the buildout, and the question investors are now weighing is how long companies can maintain this pace before returns must materialize to justify the outlays.

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S&P Global revises Meta outlook to negative. S&P Global Ratings revised Meta’s outlook to negative Friday, citing heavy AI capital expenditures and free cash flow concerns, adding to broader tech sector anxiety.

The revision ties a credit-rating assessment directly to the AI buildout, with S&P Global Ratings pointing to the scale of Meta’s spending commitments and the strain they place on the cash the company generates after expenses. Per CNBC, the move lands amid wider unease about technology companies’ finances, making Meta a specific example of the spending concerns that have weighed on the sector as a whole.

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Intel posts worst day in decades. Intel shares recorded their worst single-day decline in decades Friday, erasing $140 billion in market value. Memory-chip prices are denting PC demand, and corporate laptop budgets are tightening.

MarketWatch attributes the selloff to weakness in Intel’s personal-computer business specifically, a core segment for the chipmaker. Rising memory-chip prices are raising the overall cost of PCs, which in turn weighs on demand, while corporate information-technology departments have less money available for employee hardware. The combination hits Intel from both the consumer and enterprise sides of its PC-facing operations at once.

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Halloween candy costs climb. Higher cocoa and sugar prices pushed Halloween candy prices up significantly this year, with consumers paying more per bag and Hershey facing margin pressure.

CNBC characterizes the increase as above-average cost inflation for the seasonal candy category, driven by the raw ingredients at the center of chocolate production. The squeeze works on both ends: shoppers absorb higher shelf prices per bag, while Hershey, as a major chocolate maker, confronts the gap between what it pays for cocoa and sugar and what it can pass along without further dampening purchases.

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