Oil prices rose slightly in trading on Tuesday (January 20) after better-than-expected Chinese economic data boosted demand optimism. Brent crude rose 19 cents (0.3%) to $64.13/barrel, while February WTI which expires today rose 25 cents (0.4%) to $59.69/barrel. The more active March WTI contract also edged higher to around $59.42/barrel. This strengthening was driven by news from China, the world's largest oil importer. The Chinese economy reportedly grew 5.0% through 2025, meeting the government's target. Refinery activity also increased, with refinery throughput rising 4.1% and crude oil...
The Nikkei 225 closed down 1.03% to 49,001.5 on Thursday (December 18, 2025), marking its lowest close in about three weeks. The broader Topix index also weakened 0.37% to 3,356.89. The main pressure came from heavily weighted technology stocks, as the market reassessed the prospects for AI and data center businesses—whether massive spending in these sectors would truly yield quick returns. This negative sentiment was also carried over from Wall Street, which also recently weakened, leading investors to reduce risk. From a fundamental perspective, market players are now holding back due to...
Hong Kong stocks fell 53 points, or 0.2%, to 25,416 in Thursday morning trading, reversing the previous session's gains after Wall Street closed significantly lower overnight due to lingering concerns over AI valuations and caution ahead of November inflation data. Caution is also growing ahead of policy meetings by several central banks in Europe and Asia scheduled for today and Friday. Meanwhile, mainland Chinese stocks were sluggish after Wednesday's rally, with investors awaiting China's foreign direct investment figures for the first 11 months, expected to be released today. From...
Japanese stocks fell sharply in today's trading, with the Nikkei index falling 1.7% to 48,669.70. This decline followed Wall Street's overnight plunge, as global market sentiment was dominated by investor risk aversion. The greatest pressure came from artificial intelligence (AI) stocks. Investors began to withdraw after several major players in the cloud infrastructure sector withdrew from data center projects. This situation raised concerns about the future growth prospects of the AI sector. SoftBank Group was one of the worst-performing stocks, plummeting 6.7%, followed by Lasertec...
Asian stock markets opened lower following Wall Street's rout, as investors again shunned riskier assets. Stocks in Japan and Australia fell, followed by Hong Kong futures. Pressure came primarily from the technology sector, with the Nasdaq 100 falling 1.9% and Nvidia shares plummeting 3.8% to their lowest level since September, dampening global sentiment. The massive sell-off in technology stocks reflected growing investor skepticism about the high valuations and heavy spending of companies involved in the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. Concerns over data center construction costs and...
US stocks closed sharply lower on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 falling 1.2% to mark a fourth consecutive session of losses. The Nasdaq dropped 1.8%, while the Dow Jones ended 228 points lower, also extending its losing streak to four sessions. The tech sector led the declines amid persistent concerns over AI-related valuations. Oracle tumbled 5.4% after reports that its largest data center partner, Blue Owl, declined to back the company's plan to build a $10 billion data center. Nvidia fell 3.8%, Broadcom slid 4.5%, and AMD plunged 5.3%. Amazon shares closed 0.6% lower, giving up early...