Asian Shares Advance, Nvidia Tepid After Earnings: Markets Wrap

(Bloomberg) — Asian shares extended their gains to a fourth straight day as turmoil driven by concerns over the impact of artificial intelligence eased, with optimism tempered by a muted response to Nvidia Corp.’s upbeat sales forecast. The yen appreciated against the dollar.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 0.9% to another all-time high. South Korea’s Kospi Index — a bellwether for AI investments — continued its winning streak to jump 2.2%, extending its lead as the world’s best-performing stock market this year.

Nvidia shares erased most of their post-earnings gains to edge up just 0.2% in extended trading, even though the chipmaker’s first-quarter revenue forecast beat estimates. The world’s most valuable company signaled concerns about an overheated artificial intelligence economy, which weighed on several Asian chip stocks. Equity-index futures for the US and Europe edged lower.

“Traders’ expectations for Nvidia were already highly priced in, leaving little room for further upside,” said Dilin Wu, a research strategist at Pepperstone Group. While Nvidia emphasized robust growth in AI computing demand and temporarily resilient margins, “the potential threat to market share from proprietary chips” was not fully addressed, she said.

Nvidia’s failure to impress investors is set to test traders after equity markets rebounded from Monday’s tumble, which was driven by concerns over AI-driven disruption across sectors and fears that valuations had run ahead of fundamentals. In contrast, Asia has largely sidestepped the volatility as traders pile into the region’s chipmakers — viewed as the “picks and shovels” of the AI supply chain.

In other corners of the market, the dollar weakened for a second day. Gold rose as traders weighed geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and the impact of US tariffs on global trade. Bitcoin fell 1% and Treasuries gained, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year falling one basis point to 4.04%.

Meanwhile, Japan’s currency rose as much as 0.4% to 155.76 per dollar, alongside gains in short-end domestic government bond yields. The yen led gains among Group-of-10 currencies after Bank of Japan board member Hajime Takata, the most hawkish voice on the panel, renewed calls for further rate increases.

While his stance was largely in line with previous remarks, it underscored a growing contrast between the BOJ’s more aggressive advocates of policy normalization and the government, after Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi nominated two new board members seen as dovish.

Elsewhere, President Donald Trump will sign a directive in the coming days raising his global tariff to 15% “where appropriate” and is seeking “continuity” with nations that struck trade deals, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said.

Back to Nvidia, after a remarkable run of sales growth, which turned the chipmaker into the world’s most valuable company, investors have proven harder to satisfy. Nvidia signaled that concerns about an overheated AI economy will continue to dog the company.

The chipmaker projected first-quarter revenue of $76.4 billion to $79.6 billion, exceeding estimates of $72.8 billion. Some analysts had projected numbers approaching $80 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

“Nvidia’s blowout earnings should offer Asia — especially Japan, Korea and Taiwan’s AI-linked names — a firm fundamental anchor and a welcome sigh of relief,” said Hebe Chen, senior market analyst at Vantage Global Prime. “Yet the after-hours seesaw shows this market is now trading for ‘more than great,’ demanding renewed acceleration, rather than mere confirmation.”

What Bloomberg strategists say…

Nvidia’s much-anticipated earnings were solid, but some on Wall Street were disappointed about the lack of details on the outlook and what’s driving it. While this should temper some AI-related anxiety, concerns about competition and the sustainability of infrastructure investments will linger.

— Tatiana Darie, MLIV. For full analysis, click here.

Investors have been so sensitive in recent days that a report from a little-known firm called Citrini Research outlining the potential AI risks to various industries — using hypothetical scenarios set in the future — jolted markets earlier this week.

The disruptive potential of the technology has roiled stocks across sectors for weeks in what’s become known as the “AI scare trade.”

Wolfe Research conducted a poll that suggests most investors bet the AI “wrecking ball” that’s roiled markets is largely “overblown,” said Chris Senyek. However, participants viewed the “broadening out” trade as alive.

“It’s becoming somewhat harder for money to flow back into the sector the way it did last year,” said Yugo Tsuboi, chief strategist at Daiwa Securities Co. “In the end, concerns about over investment and the sustainability of investment were not dispelled by Nvidia’s results alone.”

Corporate Highlights:

Salesforce Inc. gave a lukewarm outlook for sales growth in the new fiscal year, fueling Wall Street’s worries that the software giant will lose out to new competitors in the age of AI. Qantas Airways Ltd. said profit climbed as new and less fuel-hungry Airbus SE aircraft increasingly replaced the airline’s aging domestic fleet. Lowe’s Co.’s sales guidance for the full year fell short of expectations, a sign the housing market will remain lackluster in the near term. First Solar Inc. issued a 2026 sales forecast below analysts’ estimates. Intuitive Machines Inc. announced a $175 million strategic equity investment to support projects such as an expansion into technology for orbital data centers. Some of the main moves in markets:

Stocks

S&P 500 futures fell 0.1% as of 12:58 p.m. Tokyo time Japan’s Topix rose 1.1% Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.5% Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.4% The Shanghai Composite was little changed Euro Stoxx 50 futures were little changed Currencies

The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.1% The euro was little changed at $1.1818 The Japanese yen rose 0.3% to 155.93 per dollar The offshore yuan rose 0.3% to 6.8342 per dollar Cryptocurrencies

Bitcoin fell 1.1% to $68,215.26 Ether fell 2.1% to $2,056.24 Bonds

The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined one basis point to 4.04% Japan’s 10-year yield advanced 2.5 basis points to 2.165% Australia’s 10-year yield declined two basis points to 4.70% Commodities

West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.2% to $65.52 a barrel Spot gold rose 0.5% to $5,192.68 an ounce This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.

–With assistance from Momoka Yokoyama.

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.