Early Thursday in the Asia-Pacific session, AI-driven tech stocks led a rebound in equities, with Nasdaq futures climbing 1.5% at the open. NVIDIA surged over 5% in post-market trading, lifting semiconductor stocks, while the Fed's hawkish stance pushed the U.S. dollar and Treasury yields higher. Gold and silver prices also rebounded.
NVIDIA's strong earnings outlook reinforced the resilience of AI infrastructure demand, significantly boosting sentiment across tech stocks and global markets, reversing earlier sell-offs driven by valuation concerns. Meanwhile, the Fed's meeting minutes struck a hawkish tone, and with missing October jobs data and tariff uncertainties, market expectations for rate cuts cooled, driving the dollar and Treasury yields upward.
U.S. stock index futures rose across the board: S&P 500 futures gained 1.02%, Nasdaq futures jumped 1.5%, Russell 2000 futures advanced 0.7%, and Dow futures rose 0.44%.
Japan's Nikkei 225 opened 1.3% higher, while South Korea's KOSPI surged 2.6% at the open. NVIDIA's post-market rally of over 5% lifted chipmakers like AMD and TSMC, as well as AI-related stocks such as Palantir.
Key movers included: - AMD (+3.99%) - Palantir (+3.9%) - Micron Technology (+3.5%) - TSMC (+3.3%) - Oracle (+3.1%) - Broadcom (+2.7%) - Alphabet (Class A, +2.2%) - C3.ai (+1.99%) - Intel (+1.88%) - Amazon (+1.54%) - Navitas Semiconductor (+12%) - Amkor Technology (+7.5%) - Texas Instruments (-0.1%) - Skyworks Solutions (-1%)
Among ETFs, the iShares Semiconductor ETF rose 2.6%, and the VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) gained 2.5%.
The Fed's hawkish stance weighed on Treasury prices, with the 10-year yield rising ~2 bps to 4.14%. The U.S. dollar index breached 100, while the yen weakened past 157 against the dollar.
Spot gold jumped 0.7% to $4,108/oz, and silver rose 0.6% to $51.67/oz.
The October Fed meeting minutes indicated a broadly hawkish stance, with officials suggesting rates could remain unchanged through 2025. Missing October jobs data (to be merged with November figures) and tariff uncertainties led traders to nearly rule out a rate cut next month.
Updates to follow.
