Asia Shares Slide Amid AI-Worry Sell-Off; S&P 500 Down 1.6% Pre-Midday

Asia markets extended Wall Street weakness Friday as AI-related disruptions weighed on sentiment. U.S. futures were flat. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.8% to 57,165.13 after crossing 58,000 on Thursday. SoftBank Group dropped 6.8% despite reporting a quarterly profit. South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.4% to 5,545.49, led by tech; Samsung Electronics up 1.2%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng down 1.8% to 26,547.98; Shanghai Composite down 0.7% to 4,105.04. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 at 8,919.30, down 1.4%. On Thursday, the S&P 500 fell 1.6% to 6,832.76, the Dow Jones down 1.3% to 49,451.98, and the Nasdaq down 2.0% to 22,597.15. Cisco Systems (-12.3%) and AppLovin (-19.7%) declined despite better-than-expected earnings as AI headwinds persisted. McDonald’s up 2.7%, Walmart up 3.8%. The U.S. inflation report Friday is closely watched, with many economists forecasting little likelihood of a rate cut in the near term. Crude oil down 0.1% to $62.77/bbl; Brent down 0.1% to $67.49/bbl. Gold up nearly 1% to $4,995.80/oz; silver up 1.4% to $76.72/oz. USD/JPY at 152.89; EUR/USD at $1.1867.