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World stocks are mixed as sell-off hits tech stocks
World stocks were mixed on Friday after an official survey showed that Chinese factory activity weakened in May due to a slowdown in export orders.
US futures remained little changed and oil prices fell ahead of this weekend’s OPEC meeting.
Technology-related stocks posted some of the biggest declines after Nvidia, a recent market favorite thanks to Wall Street’s frenzy over artificial intelligence technology, plunged 3.8% on Thursday.
European markets opened modestly higher, with the CAC 40 in Paris up 0.1% to 7,986.65. The FTSE 100 gained 0.4% to 8,259.68, while Germany’s DAX was almost flat at 18,500.20.
The S&P 500 future was 0.1% lower, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was virtually unchanged.
Friday will bring a monthly update on an inflation gauge the Federal Reserve prefers to use. The end of earnings reports is another market driver. Profits were largely better than expected for early 2024.
In Asian trading, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 rose 1.1% to 38,487.90 as reports circulated about plans for major investments by government-backed pension funds and other large institutional investors.
Semiconductor maker Tokyo Electron fell 2.5%.
Financial media outlet Nikkei said Japan is preparing to put nearly 100 trillion yen ($638 billion) more of public money into markets, following the example of the Government Pension Investment Fund.
Chinese stocks lost ground late the day after the report showing more pressure in an economy already burdened by a prolonged crisis in the real estate sector.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 0.8% to 18,079.61 and the Shanghai Composite index shed 0.2% to 3,081.81.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 1% to 7701.70 and the Kospi in Seoul was flat at 26536.52.
Taiwan’s Taiex fell 0.9% as shares of the market’s biggest heavyweight, computer chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp., fell 2%, tracking declines in other major technology companies.
Nvidia’s loss helped drag the Nasdaq index down 1.1%, while the S&P 500 fell 0.6%, although most stocks within the index and on Wall Street were higher. The Dow fell 0.9%.
But stocks generally got a boost from lower Treasury yields, providing relief after rising earlier this week on concerns about weak demand for Treasury bonds following several U.S. government auctions. Higher yields put downward pressure on all types of investments.
Yields fell on Thursday after some reports showed that the US economy is not as strong as expected.
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The 10-year Treasury yield was at 4.572% after falling to 4.54% late Thursday. .
In other trading Friday morning, benchmark U.S. crude oil lost 10 cents to $77.81 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude oil, the international standard, fell 2 cents to $81.86 per barrel.
The US dollar rose to 157.20 Japanese yen from 156.82 yen. The euro rose to $1.0837 from $1.0834.