Stock Futures Bounce as Cooler Oil Calms Wall Street After AI Rout
U.S. stock index futures recovered on Monday, Nov. 2, 2026. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.4%, while those on the S&P 500 added 0.4%. Contracts for the Nasdaq-100 jumped 0.8% higher after the index briefly approached correction territory. After the open, the S&P 500 rose 0.5%, coming off its third straight losing week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 363 points, or 0.7%, and the Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.7%.
The rebound followed a bruising stretch. On Friday the Nasdaq-100 slumped 3.5%, its worst day since June, while the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index plunged 7.2%. For October as a whole, the Nasdaq fell 5.3% in its worst monthly return since March 2025, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq-100 shed over $2.5 trillion in market value last month. The S&P 500 dropped 1.8% on Oct. 30 and finished October down 0.9%. The Dow was the outlier, up almost 2% in October as investors rotated toward defensive sectors including health care.
Easing oil prices powered the relief rally. Brent crude fell 5.8% to below $107 per barrel on hopes for progress in diplomatic efforts between the U.S. and Iran, after a report that President Donald Trump wants to give diplomacy with Iran more time. Other quotes put Brent crude down 4.2% to $108.68 per barrel, with benchmark U.S. crude down 4.2% to $99.74 a barrel. That is still far above roughly $65 per barrel a year earlier. Lower crude eased inflation fears and encouraged a cautious return to risk, with Treasury yields easing alongside.
At the heart of the sell-off is scrutiny of Big Tech's enormous AI buildout. Results from Alphabet and Amazon fueled concerns that AI spending is eroding the businesses financing those investments, while Intel shares collapsed after its report. Investors are demanding evidence that heavy capital expenditure will translate into profit, and several companies tapping the bond market to fund AI projects amplified debt worries. Market commentators say the AI trade is down but not out, calling the pullback par for the course in the early stages of AI development.
Investors now face a packed calendar. Apple reports after the market close on Monday in its first earnings call led by new CEO John Ternus, with Wall Street expecting earnings per share of $1.99 on revenue of $113.35 billion; the iPhone maker's shares have gained approximately 27% so far this year. Tuesday brings the U.S. midterm elections, which will shape control of Congress, fiscal policy and Treasury yields. Friday brings the key jobs report, alongside earnings from Advanced Micro Devices, Qualcomm, Palantir Technologies and Uber. Analysts say the elections are the next big test, and once they pass, lower uncertainty should help stocks regardless of the outcome. Discussion: After Big Tech spent heavily on AI and its stocks just suffered their worst month in over a year, would you buy the dip in technology shares or stick with defensive sectors, and what would convince you either way?