Oracle Spoils Mood after Fed cut, Causing Stocks to Decline. – Asia Market Wrap

A worldwide markets surge sparked by the Fed’s rate cut faded after dismal earnings from Oracle weighed on tech companies, and attention shifted to the US central bank’s outlook for additional easing next year.

Futures on the Nasdaq 100 fell by more than 1.5%, while a selloff in Asian technology stocks forced the regional equities barometer to reverse previous gains. S&P 500 futures fell 0.8%. Oracle shares, whose fate is inextricably linked to the AI boom, plummeted more than 10% in extended US trade after second-quarter cloud sales fell short of analyst expectations. Bitcoin fell by more than 2%, indicating a diminishing risk appetite.

Oracle reported an increase in expenditure on AI data centres and other equipment, with increased costs taking longer to transform into cloud revenue than investors expected. MSCI’s global stock index has risen over 20% this year, fuelled by an AI-driven boom, and is on track to post its largest annual gain since 2019.

An index of Asian technology stocks fell more than 1%, compared to a 0.5% drop in the broader regional benchmark. SoftBank Group shares fell more than 8% in Tokyo.