> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.sharespective.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Tech Takes a Beating - URL: https://www.sharespective.com/sharespective-2026-10-17/ - Published: 2026-10-16T21:15:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-16T21:15:00.000Z - Description: Tesla's Roadster finally flew, and the shares went the other way. - Author: Shaun Botha - Tags: Daily | ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/02/71/0271df32-cec6-421f-9f13-b06ab90e54c1/content/images/2026/08/mark-light-3.png) | SharespectiveWall Street, before morning tea | Daily newsletterSat 17 Oct 2026 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | -------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------- | | ![Today's edition](https://storage.ghost.io/c/02/71/0271df32-cec6-421f-9f13-b06ab90e54c1/content/images/2026/08/kicker-1.png)Tech Takes a Beating**Plus:** Tesla's Roadster finally flew, and the shares went the other way. | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | **Good morning.** US markets finished the week on a sour note. The NASDAQ Composite fell 2.14% on Friday to 26,140.03, and the S&P 500 lost 1.09% to 7,659.44\. The Dow got off lightly, down 0.34%. Chipmakers fell for an eighth straight session, their longest losing run in about two decades. Intel lost 5.79%. Over the week the NASDAQ dropped 4.48% and the S&P 500 1.95%, the worst week for both since June. In company news, MDxHealth fell 65.77% after suspending its revenue forecast, blaming turnover among its sales staff. Elsewhere, Fox Factory dropped 13.30% after its chief executive left and it cut its revenue forecast for the year. Finally, Travelers rose 1.47% after its September-quarter profit came in well ahead of forecasts. A week best forgotten. ### Market snapshot | S&P 5007,659.44**▼ 1.09%** | ​ | NASDAQ26,140.03**▼ 2.14%** | ​ | NZX 5013,753.73**▼ 0.57%** | | -------------------------- | - | ------------------------------- | - | -------------------------- | | ​ | | | | | | ASX 2008,806.71**▲ 1.00%** | ​ | CrowdStrikeUS$227.39**▼ 7.02%** | ​ | TeslaUS$354.72**▼ 2.13%** | US levels are Friday 16 October's closes in New York. The NZX 50 and ASX 200 are their local closes on Friday 16 October. The company rows show Friday's closing price and the move on the session. | ​ | SOFTWARE | | - | -------- | ## Software stocks had a rough Friday, and CrowdStrike fell 7.02% CrowdStrike fell 7.02% on Friday to US$227.39\. The cybersecurity company has lost 17.3% in a week, and 18.5% since it closed at US$278.86 on 6 October. **Its neighbours fared no better.** Palo Alto Networks lost more than 7%, and Palantir, which sells data software to governments and companies, fell 7.22%. By Yahoo Finance's count, 43 of the 45 software stocks it tracks finished lower. Cybersecurity copped the worst of it. The First Trust Nasdaq Cybersecurity fund, which holds the sector's big names, fell about 10% over the week. Yahoo Finance says that was its worst week since March 2020. Two worries did the damage. The first is the one dragging on chipmakers: whether the money being poured into AI will earn a return, now that the 10-year Treasury yield sits at 5.09%. The second is specific to security. On Tuesday a report said OpenAI plans to buy a cybersecurity startup. No target and no price were named, but investors took it as a sign that AI companies may build security into their own products. | Our viewnothing in CrowdStrike's business changed this week. The share price moved because investors changed their minds about what AI means for its customers. I'd want to see an AI company actually win a big security contract before treating that as a threat to the business. | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | ​ | AUTOS | | - | ----- | ## Tesla's Roadster finally flew, and the shares fell 2.13% Tesla finally showed off its new Roadster on Thursday night, at SpaceX's test site in McGregor, Texas. The car flipped over a row of other Teslas on cold-gas thrusters and ran from 0 to 60mph in 0.81 seconds. **So why did the shares go backwards?** Tesla opened Friday at US$369.04, 1.8% above Thursday's close. It then slid all day and closed at US$354.72, down 2.13%, with a low of US$349.33 along the way. The demonstration was spectacular, and the details were thin. Production starts in 2028\. Tesla has reopened reservations at US$50,000 but has not set a price for the car. There are three versions. The two-seat Performance model is meant for the road, and the Thrust adds rear thrusters for the track. The single-seat Rocket, with thrusters around its edges for lift and sideways movement, is invite-only, and Tesla says it is not approved for public roads. The Roadster was first shown in 2017, nine years before Thursday's demonstration. It still has no delivery date. | The short versioneven at a premium price, a few thousand Roadsters would barely register for a company that sells cars by the million. What moves Tesla's shares over a year is how many ordinary cars it sells and what it earns on each one. | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | ​ | TRANSPORT | | - | --------- | ## Brent crude touched US$110, and J.B. Hunt showed where the fuel bill ends up Brent crude rose 3.7% on Friday to settle at US$109.86 a barrel. It briefly touched US$110, its first time there since May, and gained nearly 5% over the week. **Why did it jump?** Iran stepped up attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, Houthi rebels fired missiles at Saudi Arabia, and Ukraine vowed to keep striking Russian refineries. ING's commodity team said the market is pricing in a significant risk premium. J.B. Hunt, one of America's biggest freight carriers, has the numbers on what that costs. Its fuel bill for the September quarter was US$260.4 million, up 59% from US$164.0 million a year earlier. Most of that was passed on. Customers paid US$670.8 million in fuel surcharges, up from US$385.6 million. That pushed revenue up 20% to US$3.68 billion, while operating income rose only 2%, to US$247.1 million. The shares fell 2.78% on Friday to US$228.78, after the results landed on Thursday afternoon. | What to watchthe surcharge line. J.B. Hunt hauls goods for retailers and manufacturers. Surcharges up 74% in a year are a cost those customers will try to pass on to shoppers in turn. | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ### Newsworthy numbers | ​ | ​ | ​ | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | - | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | US$105.2 billionwhat Interactive Brokers' customers had borrowed against their shares at the end of September, up 36% in a year. Those loans tend to look less clever in a week like this one. | ​ | US$32 billionthe paper profit short sellers have made betting against chip stocks during the selloff, according to Bloomberg. | | ​ | | | | ​ | ​ | ​ | | 8.1%how much more America paid for its imports in September than a year earlier, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Fuel import prices rose 34.5%. | ​ | 27leap seconds added to the world's clocks since 1972\. On Thursday, delegates meeting in Versailles voted to stop adding them. | ### Worth a read | ​ | | | -- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | 01 | **[Deposit protection belongs beside the interest rate](https://www.interest.co.nz/personal-finance/140651/gustavo-pessoa-argues-better-disclosure-what-financial-products-are?ref=sharespective.com)** — Gustavo Pessoa on New Zealand's NZ$100,000 deposit guarantee, and why savers should be told plainly that bonds and KiwiSaver sit outside it. | | ​ | | | 02 | **[Life's a restored beach for these artificial reef startups](https://thehustle.co/news/lifes-a-restored-beach-for-these-artificial-reef-startups?ref=sharespective.com)** — The companies selling concrete reefs to stop beaches washing away. Old subway cars sunk off the US coast had coral and fish living on them within seven months. | | ​ | | | 03 | **[Regional Victorian family business lands major South Korean deal for gum and mints](https://www.smartcompany.com.au/retail/ballarat-founded-jila-gum-and-mints-deal-south-korea/?ref=sharespective.com)** — A Ballarat confectioner founded in 1995 is heading into 16,500 Korean convenience and beauty stores. | | ​ | | | 04 | **[The uranium cubes that exposed Nazi Germany's nuclear failure](https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/10/261015073218.htm?ref=sharespective.com)** — Surviving uranium shows Germany's last wartime reactor needed about twice the uranium it had, and more than twice the heavy water. | | ​ | | | 05 | **[Experts have voted to stop adding extra seconds to clock time – the outcome favours big tech](https://theconversation.com/experts-have-voted-to-stop-adding-extra-seconds-to-clock-time-the-outcome-favours-big-tech-294297?ref=sharespective.com)** — Michelle Bastian on why astronomers lost this one. A leap second in 2012 knocked Reddit over and delayed Qantas flights. | ### Wrapping up The Reserve Bank of New Zealand decides on Wednesday 28 October, at 2​pm in Auckland and noon in Sydney. The cash rate is 2.75%, and the question is whether it goes to 3%. Australia's September inflation figures land the same day, at 11.30​am Sydney time. Meta reports after Wednesday's close in New York, with its call at 9.30​am Thursday in Auckland and 7.30​am in Sydney. After a week of doubts about AI spending, its forecast for capital spending is the line to watch. Lam Research, which makes chipmaking equipment, reports the same evening. The kiwi and the Aussie both firmed on Friday. USD/NZD eased to 1.77 and USD/AUD to 1.44. New Zealand votes three weeks from today. See you on Monday. ​ General information and commentary only, not financial advice. It does not take account of your objectives, financial situation or needs, and reflects the author's own reading of public information at the time of writing, which may be wrong. Sharespective, its people and its clients may hold positions in the companies covered. Do your own research and talk to a licensed adviser.