Tech Earnings Drag US Futures

US stock futures declined on Friday as weakness in major technology companies weighed on the market. The S&P 500 futures fell 1%, and Nasdaq futures dropped 2.3%. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures showed no change. The pullback follows a volatile week for tech stocks driven by disappointing earnings and cautious guidance.

Alphabet Class A shares lost more than 12% on Thursday. That decline marked the company's worst single-day performance since it began trading more than 20 years ago. The stock fell because the parent of Google and YouTube reported summer growth that lagged analyst expectations. Investors had focused on the company's spending on artificial intelligence. Alphabet shares were slightly lower before the market opened on Friday.

Amazon premarket trading saw shares slide nearly 7%. The company delivered fiscal third-quarter results below Wall Street estimates. It also provided a cautious sales forecast for the current fourth quarter, which includes the holiday shopping season. Intel stock slumped more than 25% before the open. The chipmaker projected a softer fourth quarter than anticipated, citing continued weakness in the personal computer market.

Bitcoin dropped about 3% to $77,695. The price action followed a $6.36 billion hack at the cryptocurrency exchange Binance. Binance temporarily suspended withdrawals and deposits in response to the breach.

Energy prices moved higher on Friday. Benchmark US crude rose 2.1% to $104.13 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, climbed 2.5% to $113.51 a barrel. Brent prices remain near the high end of their range since the war with Iran began in March. The highest price for the most actively traded Brent contract since then was nearly $120.

The British military reported that a tanker caught fire after a small boat attached two explosives to its hull in the Strait of Hormuz. The incident temporarily disabled the vessel. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said Thursday that three oil tankers struck mines while leaving the strait via an unauthorized route. UKMTO noted that October is already the busiest month for reported shipping attacks in the strait since March.

European markets showed mixed results. France's CAC 40 gained 0.1% to 7,981.42. The German DAX fell 0.6% to 25,895.24. Britain's FTSE 100 added 0.3% to 10,725.66. Asian markets were mostly lower.