By Alun John and Ankur Banerjee
(Reuters)
- Stocks surged on Thursday after strong earnings and forecasts from
chip giants Micron and Qualcomm helped reignite the AI rally, while the
dollar sat around a one year high on peers despite a fall in oil and
Treasury yields.
Tech-heavy Asian markets rose sharply after Micron (MU.O) said after the U.S. close on Wednesday its customers had committed $22 billion for its memory chips, while Qualcomm (QCOM.O) anticipates $15 billion in sales from its data centre business by 2029,
Micron shares rose 18% in premarket trading and Qualcomm 12%.
Japan's Nikkei (.N225) jumped over 4%, South Korea's KOSPI (.KS11) gained 5.5%, while futures on the U.S. tech-heavy Nasdaq 100, which includes both Micron and Qualcomm, gained 2.2%.
Investor
concern that valuations for AI-related companies have become stretched
following years of gains has weighed on markets in recent days, leading
to volatile sessions — the Nasdaq 100 fell 3.3% on Tuesday for
example.
But if companies can continue to report strong earnings, then the surge can continue.
"Earnings trump everything," said analysts at Barclays in a Thursday note.
"Markets
are not cheap. Investors expect continued double-digit earnings growth
into 2027, and the margin for disappointment has narrowed."
"But
expensive is not the same thing as wrong. Equities can be fully valued
and still outperform if the earnings trajectory holds."
Europe has fewer tech stocks, and the broad STOXX 600 (.STOXX) was up 0.44%, though the tech subindex gained 2%. (.SX8P)
S&P 500 futures rose 0.8%.
Semiconductor chips are seen on a circuit board of a
computer in this illustration picture taken February 25, 2022.
REUTERS/Florence Lo
The
other big story in global markets was oil, and prices extended their
decline on Thursday as stranded tankers exited the Strait of Hormuz
following an initial accord to end the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran,
easing supply concerns.
Brent crude futures dropped 1.2% to $72.8 a barrel. It has fallen 10% this week, erasing all of its gain from the war.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate fell 1.1% to $69.36 a barrel.
Easing
oil prices may help reduce some inflation pressure and that has sent
government bonds rallying in both the U.S. and Europe.
The benchmark 10 year Treasury yield was up 1 basis point on Thursday, having dropped over 9 bps the previous day.
Germany's
10 year yield was flat but has fallen 11 bps this week so far, as
traders wonder whether the European Central Bank will raise rates again
this year. They hiked earlier this month.
Kenneth
Broux, head of corporate research FX and rates at Societe Generale said
the longer dated bonds had been outperforming because of traders
scrambling to remove bets on higher yields, though he said the move
"will be stopped in its tracks if US PCE inflation comes in hot today."
That
data is expected to show core prices rose 0.3% in May, putting the
annual rate at 3.4%. Headline inflation is forecast at 0.5% for the
month and 4.1% year-over-year.
Should
it meet expectations, that could reinforce bets on a Federal Reserve
rate hike this year, which have caused U.S. yields to fall less than
those elsewhere and boosting the dollar.
The
euro was last at $1.1367, a whisker above Wednesday's 13-month low,
while the Japanese yen is near its lowest in 40 years on the dollar on
the brink of more intervention from Tokyo after the last bout around May
failed to stem the fragile currency's decline.
The
yen was last at 161.79 per U.S. dollar, not far from the two-year low
it hit last week. A break below 161.96 would take yen to its lowest
level since 1986.
The
strengthening dollar has weighed on gold, which slid below $4,000 an
ounce for the first time in 2026. Spot gold last fetched $3,995 per
ounce, hovering near its lowest since November.
Reporting by Ankur Banerjee in Singapore; Editing by Kate Mayberry and Shri Navaratnam
Reuters report
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