South Korea, Japan stocks fall as Asian stocks edge lower on AI woes
Mirroring Wall Street moves, MSCI’s Asia Pacific equities gauge slips 0.1%
Asian stock markets declined on Monday, following a sell-off in US semiconductor shares and growing concerns over the pace of artificial intelligence development. MSCI's Asia Pacific equities gauge dropped 0.1%, with Japan's Topix falling 0.4% and South Korea's Kospi edging down 0.1%. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index plummeted 5.9%, its steepest decline in over two months, as Nvidia and Intel were among the main decliners.
Oil prices surged, with Brent crude advancing 0.7%, reigniting inflation worries ahead of the Fed's decision on interest rates. AI leaders, including Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, and SpaceXAI CEO Elon Musk, urged for a slowdown in AI development to prevent catastrophic risks. US President Donald Trump countered the call, accusing Anthropic's CEO of stoking a "SICK conspiracy" and claiming China benefits from the situation.
The sell-off extended to Wall Street, with S&P 500 futures remaining unchanged. Shares in major banks like Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and others dropped after Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan said trading revenue would remain flat. Bond yields rose, with the 10-year Treasury yield hovering around 5%, reflecting broader pressure on long-term borrowing costs.
Written by urgent.news from The Business Times - Companies & Markets's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
