Equities in Tight Range After Nvidia Underwhelms: Markets Wrap

(Bloomberg) — Asian equities inched higher Thursday as investors parsed the latest tariff announcements from US President Donald Trump and earnings from Nvidia Corp. failed to impress investors.

Shares in Australia, Hong Kong and Japan rose, while those in South Korea fell. Chinese shares fluctuated in opening trade and a gauge of the region’s equities rose for a second day.

Futures contracts for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 were steady after small advances for the two benchmarks on Wednesday. Nvidia shares fell in after-hours trading after the chipmaker delivered good-but-not-great quarterly numbers, leaving investors — who have become accustomed to blowout results — disappointed. 

On Wednesday, Trump said that his administration would impose tariffs of 25% on the European Union. The president said that previously announced levies on Mexico and Canada would come into force on April 2. However his comments were at times contradictory, sowing confusion among investors.

The barrage of tariff news ricocheted through currency markets, lifting the dollar and stemming a selloff in the Canadian dollar and Mexican peso Wednesday, and extending the uncertainty that has weakened equities and cryptocurrencies through the week.

New research suggests Trump’s latest tariffs on imports from China may hit the American economy more than official US trade data indicate.

“The somewhat contradictory statements from the administration around the timing and extent of tariffs is keeping investors off sides,” said Marvin Loh at State Street. “The debate continues as to whether the president will again delay and water down his plans, or if this is the start of the aggressive rhetoric.”

Treasuries slipped. They had rallied on Wednesday, sending the US 10-year yield to its lowest level since the middle of December. A gauge of the dollar held its gain from Wednesday. Australian yields fell early Thursday.

Bitcoin fell to around $84,000, more than a fifth lower than its peak last month, as outflows from exchanged-traded funds amplified selling. Oil fell, while gold was little changed.

In Asia, the yen traded around 149 per dollar after ending Wednesday’s session little changed. Japan’s top currency official on Wednesday indicated he had no issue with growing market expectations over Bank of Japan interest-rate hikes, which this week helped send the yen to a four-month high. 

The Group-of-20 finance ministers and central bank governors will meet in Cape Town. In Europe, euro-zone consumer confidence figures will be released later Thursday, as will US gross domestic product and initial jobless claims.

Nvidia Results

A $330 billion exchange-traded fund tracking the Nasdaq 100 initially rose after the close of regular trading on speculation that Nvidia’s earnings will help reignite the artificial intelligence-driven rally. The giant chipmaker that’s seen as a barometer for AI gave a bullish revenue forecast for the current quarter.

The company got $11 billion of revenue from Blackwell in the fourth quarter, something Nvidia described as the “fastest product ramp” in its history. The outlook comes at a shaky time for the AI industry, with investors concerned about whether data center operators will slow spending.

“Nvidia has swept aside concerns about production of its Blackwell chips, and threats to the boom in demand for computing power with top and bottom line beats for the fourth quarter, and guidance for the current quarter ahead of expectations,” said Derren Nathan at Hargreaves Lansdown.

Key events this week:

• Eurozone consumer confidence, Thursday
• US GDP, durable goods, initial jobless claims, Thursday
• Fed’s Jeff Schmid, Beth Hammack, Patrick Harker, Michael Barr, Michelle Bowman speak, Thursday
• Japan Tokyo CPI, industrial production, retail sales, Friday
• US PCE inflation, income and spending, Friday
• Fed’s Austan Goolsbee speaks, Friday

Some of the main moves in markets:

Stocks

• S&P 500 futures were little changed as of 10:50 a.m. Tokyo time
• Japan’s Topix rose 0.4%
• Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.5%
• Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 1.1%
• The Shanghai Composite rose 0.1%
• Euro Stoxx 50 futures fell 0.7%

Currencies

• The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed
• The euro was little changed at $1.0482
• The Japanese yen fell 0.1% to 149.29 per dollar
• The offshore yuan was little changed at 7.2642 per dollar

Cryptocurrencies

• Bitcoin rose 0.4% to $84,789.93
• Ether rose 0.3% to $2,347.51

Bonds

• The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced two basis points to 4.27%
• Japan’s 10-year yield advanced two basis points to 1.385%
• Australia’s 10-year yield declined one basis point to 4.35%

Commodities

• West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.2% to $68.79 a barrel
• Spot gold was little changed

This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.

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