Key Points
-
Oil above $112 a barrel is adding to concerns about inflation and borrowing costs.
-
Meta reported negative free cash flow and plans to keep spending aggressively on AI infrastructure.
-
Intel needs that spending to translate into sustained demand for its chips.
-
Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) stock fell 8.1% on Thursday, Oct. 22, as rising oil prices and concerns about AI spending drag on chip stocks. Brent crude topped $112 a barrel following attacks in Saudi Arabia.
The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 1.2% and 2.6%, respectively.
Missed AI’s “Act 1”? Act 2 Could Be 15x Bigger. Most investors think they missed the AI boat because they didn’t buy Nvidia in 2005. But according to our analysts, we’re only at the end of “Act 1″—the R&D phase. “Act 2” is the global rollout. Continue »
Expensive oil complicates the outlook for chips
The renewed threat to Middle East energy supplies is once again weighing on the AI trade, fueling concerns that inflation and borrowing costs will remain higher for longer.
While U.S. Treasury yields actually fell Thursday (largely due to the political unrest in Europe), they are well above where they were before the war began. The problem for the AI industry is clear: the massive data center build-out requires enormous amounts of money, and financing it is getting more and more expensive.
Image source: Getty Images.
As a proverbial seller of shovels in the AI gold rush, Intel needs customers to keep buying its shovels.
Meta Platforms didn’t help calm the market’s nerves with its Q3 earnings report. While it said it would likely spend even more than it had planned on capex by the end of its fiscal year, the company reported negative free cash flow (FCF) — the money left after operating expenses and capital spending — for the first time since 2012.
It also approved a non-voting stock class it can use to raise capital without diluting CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s voting control. This was taken as a signal that financing costs are making additional borrowing unattractive and the company might turn to equity sales.
Should you buy stock in Intel right now?
Before you buy stock in Intel, consider this:
The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Intel wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.
Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004… if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $350,756!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005… if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,363,905!*
Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 922% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 213% for the S&P 500. Don’t miss the latest top 10 list, available with Stock Advisor, and join an investing community built by individual investors for individual investors.
See the 10 stocks »
*Stock Advisor returns as of October 22, 2026.
Johnny Rice has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Intel and Meta Platforms. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
