Asian stocks slide as Tesla, Meta split on AI spending

US stock futures and Asian shares fell on Thursday, October 22, after quarterly results from Tesla ↗ 4.04% and Meta Platforms ↘ 1.64% gave investors opposite signals on AI spending. The two reports raised new doubts about whether this week's rebound in artificial intelligence stocks can hold. Contracts on the Nasdaq 100 and S&P 500 ↗ 0.56% declined. Tesla dropped in after-hours trading after it cut its capital-spending forecast, while Meta rose after it lifted its spending outlook, Bloomberg reported.swissinfo.ch

"The market is a hard one to please on capital expenditure right now," Tim Waterer, chief market analyst at KCM Trade, told Bloomberg. "It frets when companies ramp spending, and it frets when they pull it back."swissinfo.ch

Split Signals on Spending

Tesla now expects 2026 capital expenditures of about $20 billion, down from more than $25 billion. It spent $4.7 billion in the third quarter, well below what analysts expected, according to The Business Times. Adjusted earnings of $0.48 a share beat estimates, and the company posted positive free cash flow when analysts had expected it to burn cash. Bloomberg's live coverage said the lower spending raised concerns about how fast Tesla can ramp up its Optimus robots and Cybercab.businesstimes.com.sg+1

Meta went the other way. It now expects 2026 capital spending of $135 billion to $145 billion, raising the bottom of its range, and also announced a new class of nonvoting stock, according to Bloomberg News Now. Shares of Lam Research ↗ 1.41% also fell in extended trading after the chip-equipment maker gave a weaker-than-expected forecast, Investing.com reported.au.finance.yahoo.com+1

Asia Leads the Selloff

Wall Street closed higher on Wednesday, but chip stocks in Asia took the biggest losses on Thursday. SK Hynix ↗ 1.92% and Samsung Electronics dragged down South Korea's Kospi, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng and Japan's Nikkei 225 also fell, Investing.com reported. As the selling deepened, China's CSI 300 fell 20% below its June peak, putting it in a bear market, CoinDesk reported.coindesk.com+1

The losses add to a recent sell-off in tech stocks. The Nasdaq 100 lost 5.5% last week, its steepest weekly drop since April 2025, and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index PHLX Semiconductor Index ↗ 3.65% fell for eight straight sessions, its longest losing streak since October 2008, according to Bloomberg.swissinfo.ch

Oil Climbs, Bitcoin Retreats

Oil prices rose after deadly attacks on a Saudi oil field raised fears that fighting in the Middle East could disrupt supply, Bloomberg reported. Bitcoin ↘ 0.18% gave up its brief move above $84,000 and slid toward $82,000 as appetite for risk faded, CoinDesk reported.coindesk.com+1

"This US earnings season is a big test on AI profitability," said Anna Wu, founder of Floodlines Research, according to Bloomberg. She added that the late drops in Tesla and Lam Research put "the AI confidence back in the air again."swissinfo.ch