Stocks Rebound After Tech-Led Selloff, Gold Climbs: Markets Wrap

(Bloomberg) — Stocks rebounded after two days of tech-led losses in the US that were fueled by concerns the artificial intelligence-driven rally had run ahead of itself. Gold extended gains as traders trimmed bets on Federal Reserve interest rate hikes.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index climbed 1.1%, with more than two shares rising for every one that declined. All 11 subgroups of the benchmark advanced. Futures contracts tied to the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 Index rose 0.6%. Benchmarks in China, Hong Kong and Japan all gained in a broad rally that helped regional shares turn positive for the week.

South Korea’s Kospi index, the world’s best-performing major stocks gauge this year, climbed 3% after a volatile start that saw the benchmark drop to near a technical bear market. Samsung Electronics Co. shares climbed 6.5% following a report that Anthropic PBC is in talks with the Korean company to manufacture a custom artificial intelligence chip.

Treasury futures edged higher in Asia after weaker than expected US June employment data and lower oil prices challenged expectations for Fed rate hikes. There’s no cash trading in Treasuries worldwide on Friday due to a US holiday. The dollar weakened against most of its major peers.

Friday’s equity gains offered some relief after a selloff in tech stocks, particularly chipmakers, fueled concern that the AI-driven rally may have gone too far, too fast. Even so, confidence in the technology’s long-term potential remains strong, with investors focused on whether earnings growth can justify lofty valuations and the billions of dollars being invested in AI infrastructure.

“We think the fundamentals are still very, very strong and the market is still underpricing them” Goldman Sachs Group Inc. chief Asia Pacific regional equity strategist Tim Moe said on Bloomberg Television. “There still is a lot longer to go in the overall positive profit environment for memory stocks and the AI hardware supply chain space overall.”

The rebound in Asia came after semiconductor stocks in the US started the third quarter with their biggest two-day selloff in nearly a month.

The Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Index, which gained a record 88% last quarter, fell 5% on Thursday. That has the index on pace for a decline of 12% over two sessions, the most since June 5.

The “real test” for markets will come in a few weeks when US tech giants report quarterly earnings numbers, which will provide insight on their profitability, need for capacity and future demand for semiconductors, Kyle Rodda, senior analyst at Capital.com, wrote in a note.

Gold rose for a third day as the weak US jobs numbers eased Fed rate-hike bets. The non-yielding metal, which is less attractive when rates are increased, gained as much as 1.8% to $4,195.39 an ounce.

Silver climbed 2.5% to $62.45 an ounce, after rising 5% in the previous three sessions. Platinum and palladium also advanced.

Brent crude steadied in thin trading as tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz increased, adding to a gush of near-term supply while talks between the US and Iran continue. The commodity traded around $72 a barrel.

Earlier, data showed the US labor market cooled in June, reinforcing expectations the Fed can afford to be patient on interest rates.

Nonfarm payrolls increased 57,000 last month after downward revisions to the prior two months took some of the shine off recent blockbuster reports, Bureau of Labor Statistics data Thursday showed. The unemployment rate fell to 4.2% as labor force participation plunged.

Traders pared back expectations for additional Fed rate hikes, though they continued to price in at least one increase this year.

“The jobs report proved to be a case of ‘bad news is good news,’” Capital.com’s Rodda wrote.

Corporate Highlights:

Tesla Inc.’s vehicle sales beat Wall Street’s modest expectations by a wide margin. SoftBank Group Corp. and its telecom unit will start renting AI computing resources to US companies next fiscal year. Rivian Automotive Inc. raised its full-year sales outlook in a promising sign as the maker of electric vehicles begins deliveries of its lower-cost SUV seen as critical to the company’s future. Adani Enterprises Ltd. is seeking to raise as much as 100 billion rupees ($1 billion) through a sale of shares to institutional investors, terms showed. Shares of Tesla’s Chinese suppliers advance after the company’s China deliveries climbed 24% year-on=year in June. Some of the main moves in markets:

Stocks

S&P 500 futures rose 0.3% as of 11:59 a.m. Tokyo time Nikkei 225 futures (OSE) rose 0.9% Japan’s Topix rose 0.9% Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.4% Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 1.1% The Shanghai Composite rose 0.8% Euro Stoxx 50 futures rose 0.2% Currencies

The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed The euro was little changed at $1.1440 The Japanese yen was little changed at 161.17 per dollar The offshore yuan was little changed at 6.7840 per dollar Cryptocurrencies

Bitcoin fell 0.2% to $61,369.66 Ether was little changed at $1,703.25 Bonds

Australia’s 10-year yield declined two basis points to 4.80% Commodities

West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.3% to $68.90 a barrel Spot gold rose 1.5% to $4,184.26 an ounce This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.

–With assistance from Elaine Lai and Yihui Xie.

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