Stocks Decline, Gold Wavers as Momentum Unwinds: Markets Wrap
(Bloomberg) — Stocks slipped and gold fluctuated, as a week that began with record highs succumbed to worries about corporate earnings and trade tensions.
MSCI’s Asian equities gauge, which had joined gold in setting an all-time high on Monday, retreated around 0.5%. That reflected drops in most big Asian stock markets, with the region’s investors largely echoing a nervous tone set in the US session. European and US equity futures edged higher.
The jitters came from a mix of broad macro fears and worries over earnings. The Trump administration said it’s considering curbs on software exports to China, risking another escalation of the trade spat. In the US, assets favored by retail momentum traders had taken the worst losses, among them precious metals, crypto and artificial intelligence stocks.
“Previously leading momentum trades across multiple asset classes are now retreating,” said Dilin Wu, a strategist at Pepperstone Group Ltd. “The bigger risk comes from earnings. Strong results could stabilize sentiment, but any disappointments — especially from growth or tech stocks — could intensify the current retracement.”
The Nasdaq 100 lost 1% after a disappointing outlook from Texas Instruments Inc. and a 10% slump in Netflix Inc. In late hours, Tesla Inc. slid as earnings missed estimates despite a sales surge.
Gold prices erased earlier losses to rise 0.4%. Brent surged almost 4% after the US announced sanctions on Russia’s biggest producers in its latest bid to pressure President Vladimir Putin to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine.
The yen was weaker against the dollar for a fifth session. The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced one basis point. The dollar index climbed 0.1%.
Chinese officials conclude their Fourth Plenum gathering in Beijing, with a readout expected later in the day. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is expected to huddle with his Chinese counterparts over the weekend ahead of the Trump-Xi talks.
Hong Kong and Chinese equity benchmarks fell. Shares of Pop Mart International Group Ltd. — which have more than doubled this year — plunged 11% on Thursday amid concerns about the toy maker’s long-term sales outlook.
The markets are jittery about the US-China tension, and “though it could probably be just another TACO situation, and even though everyone knows that’s how it goes, there are still people who have to react until things settle down,” said Ryuta Otsuka, a strategist at Toyo Securities.
In Japan, newly appointed Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi ordered a fresh round of economic measures to help households and businesses cope with persistent inflation. Shares of Disco Corp. and SoftBank Group Corp. fell more than 4%, making them among the worst losers in the Nikkei 225 index.
Elsewhere in the region, the Bank of Korea held its benchmark interest rate steady to avoid spurring a housing market rally.
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Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
S&P 500 futures rose 0.1% as of 3:02 p.m. Tokyo time Nikkei 225 futures (OSE) fell 1.1% S&P/ASX 200 futures fell 0.4% Japan’s Topix fell 0.3% Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was little changed The Shanghai Composite fell 0.6% Euro Stoxx 50 futures were little changed Currencies
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed The euro was little changed at $1.1602 The Japanese yen fell 0.3% to 152.39 per dollar The offshore yuan was little changed at 7.1266 per dollar The euro was little changed at $1.1602 The Australian dollar was little changed at $0.6493 Cryptocurrencies
Bitcoin rose 1.2% to $108,969.95 Ether rose 1.7% to $3,847.24 Bonds
The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced two basis points to 3.96% Australia’s 10-year yield advanced one basis point to 4.12% Commodities
West Texas Intermediate crude rose 3.9% to $60.81 a barrel Spot gold rose 0.4% to $4,112.97 an ounce This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Richard Henderson and Aya Wagatsuma.
©2025 Bloomberg L.P.
