Saturday, October 17, 2026
Markets / Markets close

Nasdaq books its worst week since June as the AI trade unwinds, Strategy sinks nearly 10% and bitcoin ends the week near $81,500

Federal Hall and Wall Street in Lower Manhattan, seen from the steps of the New York Stock Exchange. File photo. Photo: National Park Service / Wikimedia Commons (public domain)

Wall Street ended the week the way it spent most of it: selling anything attached to the AI boom. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 572.99 points, or 2.1%, to 26,140.03 on Friday, the S&P 500 fell 1.1% to 7,659.44 and the Dow slipped 0.3% to 52,002.41, according to the Associated Press. For the week the Nasdaq lost 4.5% and the S&P 500 1.9%, the worst stretch for both since June, while the Dow managed a 0.7% gain. Micron fell 5.6% and Intel 5.8% on the day.

Oil added to the pressure. Crude rose more than 3% on Middle East supply worries, Crypto Briefing reported, and CoinDesk's live blog had WTI at $101 a barrel by 1pm Eastern, up 16% in ten days, after reports of an attack on Saudi Arabia's East-West pipeline. The 10-year Treasury yield rose to about 5.125%.

Crypto stocks took the hardest hits. Strategy closed at $136.50, down 9.78%, per Zacks; 24/7 Wall St. tied the morning slide to MSCI's revised index eligibility rules, which take effect at its November review and had already flagged Strategy as potentially ineligible. CoinDesk's 1pm snapshot had Coinbase at $174.59, down 3.5%, Circle at $81.77, down 4%, and CoreWeave down 8%.

Bitcoin held up better than the equities around it. CoinDesk's price page showed about $81,458 at 9pm Pacific, down 0.75% over 24 hours, after Thursday's brief dip under $80,000. Yahoo Finance put the week's decline at about 2% and October's at about 5%. Odds of a Federal Reserve rate increase this month fell to 15%, CoinDesk said, after chair Kevin Warsh declined to tip the central bank's hand.

This story is reporting and analysis. It is not financial, legal or tax advice.