US stocks closed sharply lower on Friday as a Broadcom-led rout among the largest tech weights sparked a rotation into cyclicals and defensive names. The S&P 500 fell 1% and the Dow gave back 0.4% after touching record highs, while the Nasdaq dropped 1.8%, with Broadcom plunging 11.4% after warning of margin pressure. Other heavyweight, AI-exposed and semiconductor names also posted steep losses, including Nvidia (-3.3%), Oracle (-4.5%), Palantir (-2.1%), AMD (-4.8%), and Micron (-6.7%) setting the pace for a sharp selloff in the sector. The pullback reflects margin concerns and growing...
Hong Kong stocks rose around 272 points, or 1.1%, to 25,806 at the start of trading on Friday, after a slight correction in the previous session. This increase occurred across nearly all sectors, indicating improved buying sentiment among market participants. Market sentiment improved after President Xi Jinping stated at the Central Economic Work Conference that 2025 would be a "truly extraordinary year" and that key economic targets would be achieved. The Chinese government also reiterated its commitment to implementing more proactive and coordinated macroeconomic policies to stimulate...
Japanese stock indexes rose in recent trading, following Wall Street's recent record highs. This rise was supported by expectations that the Fed will maintain its loose monetary policy in the near term. The technology, metals, and electronics sectors led the gains, with SoftBank Group shares surging 4.9%, Sumitomo Metal Mining up 4.7%, and Hitachi Ltd. gaining 3.2%. In the foreign exchange market, USD/JPY traded around 155.58, slightly weakening from 156.09 at the close of trading in Tokyo on Thursday, reflecting slightly more positive sentiment towards the yen. Investors are also starting...
Asian stocks opened higher on Friday (December 12) morning after Wall Street and global equity indexes set new records. The MSCI Asia Stock Index rose about 0.5% early in the session, with the Japanese and Australian benchmarks gaining about 1%. Positive sentiment stemmed from the Fed's third consecutive interest rate cut, which encouraged investors to venture into riskier assets. Among leading stocks, SoftBank Group surged more than 5% after news that the company was considering potential acquisitions, including data center operator Switch Inc. In the US, the S&P 500 closed up 0.2% on...
The Dow jumped more than 600 points to a fresh record and the S&P 500 reversed early session losses to trade marginally higher, while the Nasdaq pared losses to roughly 0.5% on Thursday afternoon as investors rotated out of richly valued tech names and into cyclicals and beaten down value stocks after the Fed cut rates by 25 basis points to 3.50% to 3.75% and signalled a conditional easing path. Visa rose over 5% on an upgrade by Bank of America, while Mastercard and American Express added more than 4% and 1.5% respectively. Major names including JPMorgan (+2.2%), UnitedHealth (+3.1%),...
European shares closed higher on Thursday after a series of lukewarm sessions, as investors welcomed the U.S. Federal Reserve's overnight interest rate cut and assessed a policy decision from the Swiss National Bank. The pan-European STOXX 600 ended 0.5% higher at 581.17 points, after a muted start to the session amid renewed worries about lofty tech valuations following cloud computing giant Oracle's hefty AI spending plans. Major regional bourses were broadly higher, with France's CAC 40 up 0.8% and London's FTSE 100 up 0.5%. In the STOXX 600, at least 19 sectors were in the green, with...