BANGKOK (AP) – Stocks retreated in Asia on Friday, falling more than 2% after Japan’s benchmark, Hong Kong and South Korea fell sharply on suspicion of frenzy artificial intelligence technology.
President Donald Trump Double the decision to move forward with 25% tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada Customs Even if Chinese products are up to 20%, investors have rewind.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index lost 3.4% to 36,939.89, falling as the prices of tech companies’ stocks plummeted. Computer chip test equipment manufacturer Advantest has subsided 9.4%, another equipment manufacturer Disco Corp. loses 11.1%, and Tokyo Electronics loses 5.3%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Sen Index lost 2.3% at 23,175.49, while the Shanghai Composite Index lost 3,358.28 at 0.9%.
Korea’s Kospi abandoned 3.2% and 2,538.07.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 went from 1.1% to 8,174.10.
On Thursday, the S&P 500 sank to 1.6% to 5,861.57, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.4% to 43,239.50. Nasdaq composites fell to 2.8% to 18,544.42.
The S&P 500 is now five The past 6 Trading session after setting up The best ever last week. concern US economic outlook It was behind many declines, including concerns about how tariffs would get worse. inflation And massive layoffs of government workers could increase unemployment.
Superstar Stock nvidiaone of Wall Street’s most influential companies, which has been leading the market for many years, lost 8.5% after initially gaining at the start of trading. Better profit report than expected.
Better than expected revenue reports have become a routine for Nvidia, where chips are powering surges artificial intelligence Technology, but this was the company’s first one. China’s deepseek It shaked The AI industry as a whole By saying there are big language models that can compete with the world’s best without using the most expensive chips.
Berkshire Hathaway, a company run by renowned investor Warren Buffett, had a 1.7% rise, one of the most powerful upward forces in the index. Built by owners of GEICO, BNSF Railroad and other companies Unused cash storage recently. It could indicate Buffett, famous for buying stocks when prices are low, but it may not be worth buying in a market that critics say is too expensive.
Following Trump’s latest announcement, the Treasury Department has shook Customs. He said that “the tariffs scheduled to come into effect on March 4th will actually come into effect” due to imports from Canada and Mexico. He also said that on the day, he would add an additional 10% tariff to the current 10% tariff on Chinese goods.
Such a move could push prices up for US households if inflation has already proven to be stubborn. Wall Street hopes the threat is not only a leverage that Trump will use to negotiate with other countries, but ultimately gives the economy less pain than it is feared.
But even if it proves to be true, all the stories about tariffs have already been obtained More tense American households About the economy. Their strong spending is dangerous as the main reason the US economy has avoided a recession.
This uncertainty also puts pressure on the Federal Reserve. The Federal Reserve is rarely in the case where there are few tools to support an economy where growth is slowing and inflation is rising simultaneously.
For now, at least, the US economy appears to be in a solid state. The government on Thursday left only that estimate. The US economy’s performance in the last three months of 2024although I have raised estimates of inflation measures during the quarter.
According to another report More US workers have filed for unemployment The benefits of last week. The numbers are three months high, but that’s not yet close to where it was in past recessions.
In other transactions early on Friday, US benchmark crude lost 32 cents to $70.03 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Commercial Exchange.
International standard Brent crude pulled 33 cents back to $73.24 per barrel.
The US dollar fell from 149.82 yen to 149.55 yen late Thursday. The euro fell from $1.0401 to $1.0390.
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AP business writers Stan Choe and Matt Ott contributed.