Stocks Slide as Oracle Spoils Mood After Fed Cut: Markets Wrap

(Bloomberg) — A global equities rally spurred by the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate cut evaporated as disappointing results from Oracle Corp. weighed on tech shares and focus turned to the US central bank’s outlook for further easing next year.

Futures on Nasdaq 100 slumped more than 1.5%, while a selloff in technology stocks in Asia caused the regional equity gauge to reverse earlier gains. S&P 500 futures were down 0.8%. Shares of Oracle, whose fate is deeply tied to the artificial intelligence boom, plunged more than 10% in extended US trading after second-quarter cloud sales fell just short of analysts’ estimates. In a sign of waning risk appetite, Bitcoin lost more than 2%.

The moves came after the S&P 500 rose 0.7% on Wednesday, ending just short of all-time highs, as the Fed cut rates for a third consecutive time and Chair Jerome Powell voiced optimism that the economy will strengthen as the inflationary impact from tariffs fades away. The result marked the first time since 2019 that three officials voted against a policy decision, with dissents on both ends of the policy spectrum. Officials maintained their outlook for a single cut in 2026.

“While most of the focus was on the FOMC, a key risk for markets overnight was Oracle,” said Billy Leung, investment strategist at Global X Management. Its result was a key test for the AI infrastructure trade given Oracle’s role as a bellwether for hyperscale data center spending and has added to broader tech pressure, he said.

Oracle reported a jump in spending on AI data centers and other equipment, rising outlays that are taking longer to translate into cloud revenue than investors wanted. Powered by an AI-driven rally, MSCI Inc.’s index of global stocks has surged about 20% this year and is on course for its best annual advance since 2019.

A gauge of Asian technology stocks was down more than 1%, versus a 0.5% decline in the broader regional benchmark. Shares of SoftBank Group lost more than 8% in Tokyo.

Traders in Asia were also assessing the impact of Mexican lawmakers’ final approval for new tariffs on the region’s imports. Also in focus was Thursday’s interest-rate decision in the Philippines, where the central bank is predicted to cut its key interest rate for a fifth straight meeting.

In Japan, bonds gained after an auction of 20-year government debt drew its strongest demand since 2020. Yields across the curve have recently climbed to multi-year highs on renewed fiscal concerns as well as rising expectations for a Bank of Japan rate hike at its meeting next week.

Elsewhere in markets, a gauge of the dollar edged higher after falling 0.4% on Wednesday. In commodities, oil prices were in focus after the US seized a sanctioned tanker off Venezuela, deterring more shipments from the South American producer and raising the risk of a conflict.

‘Fairly Choppy’

US Treasuries rallied on Wednesday, with the policy-sensitive two-year yield sliding eight basis points, as the Fed’s quarter-point rate reduction was accompanied by the authorization of fresh Treasury bill purchases to rebuild bank reserves. The yield fell one more basis point on Thursday.

The 10-year yield, which dropped around four basis points in the previous session, was two basis points lower on Thursday. The declines have stalled a prior run up in yields that had driven one global gauge to its highest since 2009.

Powell pushed through the quarter percentage point cut not only over the objection of a few voters. A much larger group of regional Fed bank presidents who participated in the debate but weren’t among this year’s voting roster also signaled they opposed the cut.

The fractures could foreshadow what’s to come in 2026, when a new chair may struggle even more than Powell to marshal consensus at the Fed.

The Fed chair suggested the central bank had now acted sufficiently to help stabilize the labor market while leaving rates high enough to continue weighing on price pressures. He also underscored the importance of upcoming economic reports while advising caution on assessing household jobs readouts, given technical distortions after a government shutdown caused a data blackout.

Nick Twidale, chief analyst at AT Global Markets in Sydney, said he is “hesitant” on how much momentum the Fed’s cut will bring to global markets.

“The forward guidance was probably less dovish than most investors were hoping for,” he said. “We may see some fairly choppy markets in the sessions ahead as the market digests what Jerome Powell had to say.”

Corporate News

Private equity firm TPG Inc. is considering options for APM Monaco, including a possible stake sale or an initial public offering of the jeweler, according to people familiar with the matter. SK Hynix Inc. fell after South Korea’s main bourse issued a higher-level warning on investing in the stock following strong gains sparked by expectations of a listing in New York. Investment banks are on track to take home their smallest slice of underwriting fees from Hong Kong listings in years, even as share sales in the city have staged a blistering rebound. President Donald Trump signaled he’ll oppose a Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. deal that doesn’t include new ownership of CNN, a potential wrinkle for the bid from Netflix Inc. Shares of Jingdong Industrials Inc., the supply-chain unit of Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com Inc., fell in their Hong Kong trading debut after a HK$2.98 billion ($383 million) initial public offering. Japan’s stock market is witnessing a record wave of large private transactions known as block trades, stemming from companies reducing cross-shareholdings to improve corporate governance. Chinese artificial intelligence startup DeepSeek has relied on Nvidia Corp. chips that are banned in the country to develop an upcoming AI model, according to a new report in The Information. Coca-Cola Co. said Chief Executive Officer James Quincey is stepping down and will be replaced at the end of March by Henrique Braun, the company’s chief operating officer. Some of the main moves in markets:

Stocks

S&P 500 futures fell 0.8% as of 2:16 p.m. Tokyo time Japan’s Topix fell 0.7% Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.1% Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was little changed The Shanghai Composite fell 0.6% Euro Stoxx 50 futures fell 0.1% Currencies

The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.1% The euro was little changed at $1.1690 The Japanese yen was little changed at 155.91 per dollar The offshore yuan was little changed at 7.0611 per dollar The Australian dollar fell 0.6% to $0.6637 Cryptocurrencies

Bitcoin fell 2.4% to $90,140.14 Ether fell 4.3% to $3,197.85 Bonds

The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined two basis points to 4.12% Japan’s 10-year yield declined three basis points to 1.925% Australia’s 10-year yield declined nine basis points to 4.72% Commodities

West Texas Intermediate crude was little changed Spot gold fell 0.4% to $4,212.65 an ounce This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.

–With assistance from Richard Henderson.

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