Asian stocks declined following a volatile session on Wall Street that saw broad losses across equities and haven assets.
MSCI’s Asia equity benchmark retreated further from its record close earlier this week, with Japanese shares leading the decline. The Nasdaq 100 lost 1% after a tepid outlook from Texas Instruments Inc. and a 10% slump in Netflix Inc. In late hours, Tesla Inc. slid as earnings missed estimates despite a sales surge.
Adding to the jitters, traders were watching developments in Washington after the Trump administration said it’s considering curbs on software exports to China, stoking fresh trade tensions. In the US, assets favored by retail momentum traders bore the worst losses, among them precious metals, crypto and companies in the artificial-intelligence.
“Previously leading momentum trades across multiple asset classes are now retreating,” said Dilin Wu, a strategist at Pepperstone Group Ltd. “The bigger risk comes from earnings. Strong results could stabilize sentiment, but any disappointments — especially from growth or tech stocks — could intensify the current retracement.”
Gold declined for a third day, edging back in the direction of $4,000 an ounce. Oil jumped almost 3% after the US announced sanctions on Russia’s biggest producers in its latest bid to pressure President Vladimir Putin to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine.
The yield on 10-year Treasuries was steady after falling one basis point to 3.95% on Wednesday. A $13 billion sale of 20-year bonds was strong. The dollar index was little changed.
