(Bloomberg) — Asian shares dropped with European and US stock-index futures after Micron Technology Inc.’s sales outlook fell short of the highest forecasts, denting giant tech companies in late Wall Street trading.

Most Read from Bloomberg

Stocks in Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea and China all declined, putting the MSCI Asia Pacific gauge on course for its first loss in three days. The yen pared some of the declines it made Wednesday when it tumbled to 160.87 per dollar, the weakest level since 1986.

An emerging-market currency gauge dropped to near its lowest in two months and a gauge of Asian currencies fell to levels last seen in 2022 as the dollar strengthened. Treasuries extended their recent declines on concern Friday’s US PCE data will show inflation remains elevated.

“It’s all about the Fed — higher for longer is keeping the front end of rates very high, drawing money into the US and keeping the dollar strong,” said Andrew Brenner, head of international fixed income at NatAlliance Securities LLC. For Japan, “it’s a problem,” he said.

MSCI Inc.’s key gauge for Chinese stocks is on course for a technical correction as traders struggle to find catalysts ahead of a July meeting of the nation’s top leaders. The MSCI China Index dropped as much as 2% on Thursday, taking declines from a May 20 high to about 10%.

The yen strengthened from near a 38-year low after Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki said “one-sided moves in the foreign exchange market were not desirable as currencies should reflect fundamentals.” The currency had slumped 0.7% on Wednesday.

Micron Technology shares slumped in extended US trading after the maker of computer memory chips disappointed some investors hoping it would profit from the AI computing boom. The news dragged down a number of other chipmakers including giant Nvidia Corp.

Wall Street’s latest attempt to broaden out of the megacap group was short-lived, with a bevy of measures still showing how market breadth remains weak — boosting uncertainty about the rally’s staying power. Bifurcation between S&P 500 performance and breadth has reached one of the worst levels in three decades, according to Bloomberg Intelligence.

“The stock market is way too reliant on big tech — period and end of story,” said David Bahnsen at The Bahnsen Group. “Whether or not the past week’s volatility in tech is the start of something deeper or if that reckoning is still forthcoming remains to be seen, but excessive investor sentiment, euphoria and overdone momentum always ends the same.”

Story continues

Elsewhere, Asia Pacific companies and governments’ sales of dollar bonds in the primary market hit a nine-month high this week, as issuers look to lock in historically tight spreads before they climb further. The Korean government and other issuers sold more than $5.5 billion of notes on Wednesday, pushing the week’s tally close to $14 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

In commodities, gold steadied after a two-day decline, while oil traded in a narrow range ahead of the next round of US economic data.

Key events this week:

• China industrial profits, Thursday

• Eurozone economic confidence, consumer confidence, Thursday

• US durable goods, initial jobless claims, GDP, Thursday

• Nike releases earnings, Thursday

• Japan Tokyo CPI, unemployment, industrial production, Friday

• US PCE inflation, spending and income, University of Michigan consumer sentiment, Friday

• Fed’s Thomas Barkin speaks, Friday

Some of the main moves in markets:

Stocks

• S&P 500 futures fell 0.2% as of 6:36 a.m. London time

• Nasdaq 100 futures fell 0.3%

• Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.2%

• The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 0.5%

• The MSCI Emerging Markets Index fell 0.5%

Currencies

• The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.1%

• The euro rose 0.1% to $1.0694

• The Japanese yen rose 0.2% to 160.43 per dollar

• The offshore yuan was little changed at 7.2977 per dollar

• The British pound was little changed at $1.2634

Cryptocurrencies

• Bitcoin was little changed at $60,918.76

• Ether fell 0.5% to $3,372.16

Bonds

• The yield on 10-year Treasuries was little changed at 4.33%

• Germany’s 10-year yield advanced four basis points to 2.45%

• Britain’s 10-year yield advanced five basis points to 4.13%

Commodities

This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

©2024 Bloomberg L.P.

EMEA Tribune is not involved in this news article, it is taken from our partners and or from the News Agencies. Copyright and Credit go to the News Agencies, email news@emeatribune.com Follow our WhatsApp verified Channel