AI buildout bill comes due: Meta falls 8% as investors sell the AI trade

Sourcing note: this report rests on a single reporting chain. Reuters reported the broad selloff on October 22, 2026, and the other coverage found is Reuters syndication or reporting that focuses on Meta's own earnings and share fall rather than independently reporting the full cross market figures. The percentages and analyst framing below are as Reuters reported them, and this item will be updated when independent reporting on the broader selloff appears.

A day after Meta said it would issue non voting Class C shares to help fund AI spending, raised the low end of its 2026 capital spending range to $135 billion with the high end at $145 billion, and reported negative free cash flow of $2.12 billion for the third quarter, its first cash burn in more than a decade, investors sold the AI trade on October 22. Reuters reported Meta fell 8%, its largest drop since July, Nvidia fell 4%, SpaceX fell 9%, Lam Research fell 10%, CoreWeave fell 9% and Nebius fell 7% after a new $3.5 billion credit line, with the Nasdaq on track for its largest decline in four months and Meta credit default swaps at a record. Analysts quoted by Reuters framed the move as a repricing of return on investment and financing, not a collapse in demand, with smaller AI firms facing a financing bottleneck and CoreWeave potentially needing to raise about $20 billion for customer commitments.

Sources: Reuters