Oracle shares fell as much as 8% Monday after the company disclosed plans to sell $10 billion in common stock and $10 billion in senior notes to help fund its artificial-intelligence data-center buildout, deepening a tech-led selloff that left the Nasdaq Composite down 1.07% to 25,164.32 and the S&P 500 down 0.51% to 7,541.40. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, by contrast, rose 0.41% as investors rotated into defensive and industrial names such as Sherwin-Williams, Home Depot and Honeywell.
The new offering, detailed in Oracle's own investor relations filings, comes on top of an $18 billion bond sale Oracle completed in September 2025, and arrives as the company already faces a bondholder lawsuit alleging it failed to adequately disclose how much borrowing its AI expansion would require. The fresh fundraising fed a broader worry gripping markets: that the current wave of AI infrastructure spending is being financed increasingly through debt rather than cash flow, raising the stakes if demand for AI computing power fails to keep pace with the buildout.
Monday's trading also reflected jitters tied to Monday's Marvell-Lumentum merger announcement, which sent both companies' shares lower, and a soft margin forecast from Apple, which beat on revenue but missed on iPad sales when it reported after the bell, according to Apple's own earnings release. Kioxia, the Japanese flash-memory maker, fell 14% after warning that price growth in its market was stalling. Oil fell sharply — Brent crude dropped roughly 7% — on signals from Secretary of State Marco Rubio that the U.S. and Iran may resume peace talks, adding a rare bright spot to an otherwise risk-off session.
"The stock market's longer-term bullish narrative may have taken some hits in recent weeks, but it's still intact," said Chris Larkin of E-Trade. Deutsche Bank analysts went overweight on technology stocks Monday, arguing the sector was near the bottom of its long-run trend, while Stephens upgraded Oracle to overweight with a $213 price target, betting the AI capital-spending cycle will ultimately pay off even if the financing looks uncomfortable in the short term. Both the Nasdaq and S&P posted their worst October since March 2025, and investors are now watching this week's midterm election results and fresh jobs data for clues on where the rally goes next.
