Nasdaq Falls 2.6% at Midday as Intel Heads for Its Worst Day Since 1974 and Reddit Loses a Quarter of Its Value

Amazon, whose $42.4 billion twelve-month free cash outflow set the mood overnight, had pared its loss to about 2 percent by late morning. Crypto-linked names fell with bitcoin, which traded near $77,000 after the Binance theft: Coinbase was down 10.8 percent and Strategy 8.4 percent in the AP's 10 am snapshot. Yahoo noted Meta and Alphabet now sit more than 20 percent below their 52-week highs, with Tesla down 19 percent, Amazon 15 percent and Nvidia 12 percent from theirs.

What was rising while tech fell?

Most of the market, in fact. The AP said more stocks in the S&P 500 were up than down at 10 am; the losses in a handful of giants outweighed them. Exxon Mobil gained 2.2 percent and Chevron 1.6 percent after both reported stronger refining profits, Mondelez rose 3.5 percent and Colgate-Palmolive 1.9 percent on better-than-expected quarters, and the consumer staples sector fund gained nearly 2 percent. Regeneron added more than 12 percent. Yahoo had the Russell 2000 down 1.6 percent by late morning after an early rise.

Where are oil and Treasury yields?

Oil climbed again. Brent was up 2.4 percent at $113.45 a barrel in the AP's 10 am snapshot, near the top of its range since the war with Iran began, and December WTI traded at $103.41 at 11:31 am on Yahoo's board. Treasury yields fell despite the oil move: the 10-year was at 4.94 percent, down from 4.98 percent late Thursday and from above 5.30 percent earlier in the month. The employment cost index rose 0.8 percent in the third quarter, in line with forecasts.

The S&P 500 set a record earlier in October and, at Friday's levels, was on track to end the month lower; CNBC's pre-open maths had the Nasdaq heading for a 2.5 percent October loss while the Dow stayed up 2.8 percent, StockTitan noted. Four and a half hours of trading remained, and the close will decide whether the first monthly loss since the summer is booked or dodged.