Asian equities recovered from early losses on Friday after a Bloomberg report said OpenAI's annualized revenue could reach $70 billion or more by year-end, easing concerns that fed a tech selloff on Wall Street a day earlier. Japan's Nikkei 225 erased a near 1% drop to trade flat, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng jumped 1.5% and its tech sub-index climbed nearly 3%.
Stocks recover after Bloomberg's OpenAI revenue report
Asian stocks recovered from early losses on Friday after a Bloomberg report said OpenAI expects annualized revenue to reach or exceed $70 billion by year-end, which eased investors' concerns about demand for artificial intelligence. U.S. stock index futures also turned modestly higher as of 02:29 ET.
The rebound followed a sharp selloff in technology shares on Wall Street on Thursday, when weaker-than-expected revenue projections for OpenAI revived concerns about whether massive spending on AI infrastructure would generate sufficient returns. The Nasdaq Composite fell 1.3%. The S&P 500 lost 0.5%.
Japan's Nikkei 225 traded flat after falling nearly 1% earlier in the day, while the broader TOPIX index gained 0.4%.
China's Shanghai Composite edged up 0.3%, and the blue-chip CSI 300 added 0.4%; both indexes had fallen more than 1% in early trade. Hong Kong's Hang Seng jumped 1.5%. Its tech sub-index climbed nearly 3%.
OpenAI's revenue outlook drove the swing
OpenAI's annualized revenue was about $50 billion at the end of September, Bloomberg reported, and the figure is expected to reach $70 billion or more by December. That outlook helped ease concerns following earlier reports that OpenAI's annualized revenue was running about $20 billion below prior indications, which had triggered selling in chipmakers and other AI-exposed companies.
SoftBank Group, a major investor in OpenAI, pared some losses to trade 3.5% lower, while chip-related and electronics companies also trimmed declines. Markets in South Korea and Taiwan were closed for holidays. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 closed 0.6% higher, though Nvidia-backed data-centre operator Firmus shelved a roughly $5 billion initial public offering, citing market volatility and opting for private fundraising instead.
Oil and bond markets stayed in focus
Energy prices added pressure after Brent crude surged more than 4% on Thursday to above $103 a barrel, as concerns over the war in the Middle East threatened oil supplies and stoked inflation fears. Prices eased slightly on Friday, but investors remained wary that a renewed escalation could push energy costs higher and complicate the interest-rate outlook.
Bond markets also remained in focus after a prolonged selloff pushed long-term borrowing costs to multi-decade highs. The U.S. 10-year Treasury yield eased to around 5.23% after rising to a 24-year high earlier in the week, offering some relief to equities. Elevated yields continued to challenge valuations for growth stocks and raise financing costs for companies investing heavily in AI.
Source: Investing.com
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