Asian shares were mostly lower Friday after the latest shudder for artificial-intelligence stocks weighed on markets around the world, giving the benchmark S&P 500 its worst day since July.
asserted
shudder → weigh → July
Oil prices were hovering at their highest levels since May on worries about the war with Iran, with Brent crude up 0.5% at $113.73 per barrel.
uncertain
crude → hover → barrel
U.S. benchmark crude oil added 0.6% to $100.08 per barrel.
asserted
oil → add → barrel
In share trading, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 lost 1.7% to 61,825.26, while the Kospi in South Korea declined 2.4% to 5,403.32.
asserted
Kospi → lose → 5,403.32
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng climbed 0.2% to 22,983.80 and the Shanghai Composite index slipped 1.3% to 3,610.52.
asserted
index → climb → 3,610.52
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 shed 0.2% to 8,777.00.
asserted
ASX → shed → 8,777.00
On Thursday, the S&P 500 fell 1.2%, while the Nasdaq composite tumbled 2.6%.
asserted
composite → fall → Thursday
The weakness for tech stocks was so overwhelming that it masked strength for the rest of the U.S. market, where the majority of stocks actually rose.
asserted
majority → mask → stocks
The Dow Jones Industrial Average added less than 0.1%.
asserted
Average → add → %
AI-related stocks have been swinging on worries that their boom may be under threat because of how expensive it’s become to borrow money to build data centers and buy more AI chips.
uncertain
it → relate → chips
Investors fear their prices shot too high during a yearslong frenzy, even though companies in the industry continue to report growth.
asserted
companies → fear → growth
Meta Platforms, which is pushing its Muse AI agent, lost 7% after reporting stronger revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected, though its profit fell short.
asserted
profit → push → quarter
The company behind Facebook and Instagram also said it’s creating a new class of stock to raise money to pay for AI investments and other expenses.
asserted
it → say → investments
Tesla fell 3.1% after reporting a stronger profit for the summer than analysts expected, though its revenue was weaker than forecast.
asserted
revenue → fall → summer
The global tide against AI stocks knocked Nvidia down 4.4%.
asserted
tide → knock → Nvidia
Because the chip giant is the largest company on Wall Street by total value, movements for its stock carry more weight on the S&P 500 than any other, and it was the single strongest force pulling the index lower.
asserted
it → carry → index
CoreWeave, which has borrowed money to buy Nvidia’s AI chips that it rents out to customers over the cloud, has been particularly shaky in recent weeks because of worries about its debt.
asserted
it → borrow → debt
It dropped 10.1%.
asserted
It → drop → ?
Higher oil prices also have been weighing on stocks.
asserted
prices → weigh → stocks
The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil leaped 4% on Thursday and has shot up from less than $97 at the start of the month on uncertainty about when the war with Iran will allow the global energy industry to return to normal.
asserted
industry → leap → normal
Worries about big government debt loads and strained budgets are hanging over almost every developed economy.
asserted
Worries → hang → economy
Protests across France have raised pressure on the government to increase spending, which could add further to its debt.
uncertain
which → raise → debt
In the United States, such concerns, along with high inflation, signals of a still-strong U.S. economy and other factors, have pushed yields in the U.S. bond market recently to their highest levels in decades.
asserted
concerns → push → decades
But U.S. yields fell sharply Thursday in a signal that investors were buying U.S. government bonds in search of something safer to own as AI stocks tumbled.
asserted
stocks → fall → something
The yield on the 10-year Treasury tumbled to 4.97% from 5.13% late Wednesday and from more than 5.30% earlier this month.
asserted
yield → tumble → %
That’s a major move for the bond market.
asserted
That → ’ → market
Thursday’s drop in yields came even as another report suggested the U.S. economy may be doing better than economists expected.
uncertain
economists → come → yields
It said fewer U.S. workers applied for unemployment benefits last week, which could signal that layoffs remain low across the country.
uncertain
layoffs → say → country
In other dealings early Friday, the U.S. dollar rose to 156.93 Japanese yen from 156.77 yen.
asserted
dollar → rise → yen
AP Business Writer Stan Choe in New York contributed to this report.
asserted
Choe → contribute → report
The Aporia
