Nasdaq sinks 2.6% as Meta drops 7% on AI spending fears, and bitcoin falls to about $81,500

Thursday's sell-off spread across tech stocks by the close. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 2.6% to 26,008.86 on Thursday, its worst intraday performance since June 5, according to Investing.com; Yahoo Finance data put the drop at 694 points. The S&P 500 fell 1.2% to about 7,665, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average finished flat at 52,866.85, per Investing.com.

Meta led the AI hyperscalers lower, Investing.com reported. It closed about 7% down at $648.85, according to Yahoo Finance, despite an earnings beat, per The Motley Fool. TipRanks noted that Meta had raised its 2026 capital spending forecast to $135 billion to $145 billion. Lam Research was down about 9% before the opening bell after its results, Yahoo Finance reported, and Tesla closed about 3% lower, per Investing.com.

Bitcoin moved with tech stocks. It traded near $81,500 on Thursday, down more than 3% on the day, and ether lost about 4% to near $2,400, TipRanks reported.

Oil added pressure: Brent crude rose 4% to $113.13 a barrel late in the day, a more than five-month high, Investing.com reported. Weekly jobless claims fell to 194,000, a three-month low, per Yahoo Finance.

What to watch next: earnings from Alphabet, Microsoft and Amazon next week, which The Motley Fool said should give more information on AI spending and demand.