Asian shares fall as Alphabet earnings miss drags Wall St futures lower

Asian shares saw a drop on Thursday (Oct 29) following mixed reactions to AI-related earnings reports, impacting Alphabet and pushing Wall Street futures lower. The tech giant's stock plummeted 10% in after-hours trading, erasing nearly $400 billion in market value, while Microsoft's shares rose 3% with better-than-expected cash flows.

Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve maintained interest rates as expected, but two committee members advocated for an increase. Fed Chair Kevin Warsh expressed optimism on inflation during his press conference, which boosted Treasuries. However, the earnings reports proved to be the decisive factor. Samsung Electronics reported a record-high operating profit, but its shares still fell by over 4%, impacting the KOSPI index.

MSCI's Asia-Pacific index outside Japan experienced a 0.7% decline, while Japan's Nikkei index saw a slight increase of 0.3%. China's blue chips declined by 0.9%, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rose by 0.2%. Alphabet's decline stemmed from its ad generation revenue being affected by the AI boom, causing mixed results for the company.

Both Alphabet and Microsoft confirmed that AI revenue generation remains robust due to data center growth and cloud services. SK Hynix shares rose by 1.3% following strong earnings. The Federal Reserve's decision to maintain interest rates has shifted focus to US Personal Consumption Expenditures data for September, which is expected to gauge inflation.

The Bank of Canada recently raised interest rates for the first time in over three years, while the European Central Bank is anticipated to keep rates steady later on Thursday.