GoKawiilMeta's negative free cash flow triggers AI stock sell-off, CoreWeave drops 10%
U.S. markets wavered last week as fears about financing the AI buildout outweighed strong corporate earnings. Meta Platforms reported negative free cash flow for the first time since its 2012 IPO and flagged it may need hundreds of billions more in financing, triggering a Thursday sell-off that hit CoreWeave especially hard, down over 10% on the day and more than 10% for the week. The Dow still gained 0.4% for the week while the S&P 500 fell 0.5% and the Nasdaq slipped 0.7%.
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Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's comment that capital demand now exceeds available capital suggests the AI buildout's bottleneck may be shifting from chip supply to financing capacity, which could make borrowing costs a bigger swing factor for AI-linked stocks going forward. The volatility also indicates investors are becoming more sensitive to cash-flow signals from major AI spenders like Meta, rather than just revenue growth, which could pressure other heavily-investing tech firms to justify their spending plans more explicitly.
- Meta posted negative free cash flow for the first time since 2012, citing need for further AI infrastructure financing.
- CoreWeave fell over 10% for the week amid scrutiny of its debt-fueled AI spending.
- Nvidia's CEO said capital demand for AI now exceeds available capital, highlighting financing as a growing constraint.
Source: cnbc.com — Alexa Lomonaco, 2026-10-24
Published there as: “AI funding fears rattle Wall Street. Here's how we're adjusting our portfolio”
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