Stock Selloff Eases in Asian Trade, Oil Declines: Markets Wrap
(Bloomberg) — A selloff in stocks eased during Asian trading on Monday as regional equities fell less than their Wall Street peers and US equity futures turned higher. Oil declined.
Benchmark equity indexes dropped in Japan and Australia, while rising in South Korea and Hong Kong, leaving the MSCI Asia Pacific Index down by 0.6%. That followed a Friday session where the Nasdaq 100 Index slumped 3.5% — its worst day since June — while the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index plunged 7.2%. Futures on the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 both climbed at least 0.4% on Monday, pointing to a recovery when US cash markets reopen.
Brent crude fell 2.7% to $110.34 a barrel following reports that US President Donald Trump wants to give diplomacy more time before deciding whether to resume strikes on Iran following Tuesday’s midterm elections. Gold climbed 0.9% to around $3,910 an ounce after falling to its lowest close in more than a year on Friday. Bitcoin rose for a third day after sinking last week when Binance Holdings revealed a record hack that rattled the crypto industry.
China’s financial regulators will hold a meeting with banks and securities firms omn Monday to discuss measures to support the capital market, signaling authorities’ renewed effort to halt the slump in Chinese stocks.
Last week’s stock selloff indicates investors are showing less tolerance for tech companies whose core businesses are slowing while AI spending surges. Results from Alphabet Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. fueled concerns that AI is eroding the businesses financing those investments. Traders are bracing for more volatility, with the US midterm elections this week and Nvidia Corp. earnings later in November.
Still, some in the market say the decline may prove a buying opportunity. There are a few “clearing events” ahead that could temporarily push stocks lower and create an opportunity for investors to add exposure, said Mike Wilson, chief equity strategist at Morgan Stanley in New York.
Kioxia Holdings Corp.’s shares tumbled as much as 17% after the Japanese memory maker’s cautious outlook flared up concerns that the explosive growth driven by artificial intelligence may be leveling off.
The dollar was mixed against its Group-of-10 peers, while US Treasuries edged lower as risks of deepening conflict in the Middle East fanned inflation concerns.
“Markets are placing significant weight on their expectations that US‑Iran fighting will escalate after the US midterm elections on 3 November,” Vivek Dhar, a strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia, wrote in a note. “These concerns are justifiable given both the US and Iran believe they have the upper hand in the Middle East.”
All three major Chinese financial regulators, including the People’s Bank of China, the National Financial Regulatory Administration, and the China Securities Regulatory Commission, will hold meetings with major banks to study optimizing lending programs to support stock buybacks, Chinese media Cailian reported on Sunday.
Binance recorded a net outflow of $3.6 billion in crypto assets after restoring customer withdrawals on Sunday. The world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange said the flight of funds eased after an initial spike. Binance had frozen withdrawals following Thursday’s $6.3 billion hack while it investigated and stabilized the platform, and pledged to reimburse customers in full.
Friday’s US stock slump delivered a long-awaited jolt of volatility after disappointing earnings from technology giants intensified concerns about the durability of the AI-driven rally. The Cboe Volatility Index touched its highest intraday level since April, while demand for puts protecting against further losses surged and correlations among stocks climbed, signs of mounting stress. Still, those measures remain well below levels reached in March after the US and Israel attacked Iran.
The pullback is also prompting some investors to look for buying opportunities. Morgan Stanley’s Mike Wilson said he sees several “clearing events” ahead that could temporarily push stocks lower and create an opportunity for investors to add exposure.
“This looks more like a bullish rotation with a derating at its core than the beginning of a broad market deterioration,” said Florian Ielpo, head of macro research at Lombard Odier Investment Management.
Corporate Highlights:
Apple Inc. reclaimed the title of world’s most valuable company on Friday, taking the mantle from Nvidia Corp. as investors seek the perceived safety of the iPhone maker amid concerns about artificial intelligence spending. DeepSeek has released a prototype of a more autonomous coding agent as it seeks to challenge Anthropic PBC’s popular Claude Code. Westpac Banking Corp. Chief Executive Officer Anthony Miller’s pay surged to A$7.5 million ($5.3 million), despite profit missing expectations and the lender flagging an uncertain outlook for Australia’s economy. Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
S&P 500 futures rose 0.4% as of 11:46 a.m. Tokyo time Nikkei 225 futures (OSE) fell 0.5% Japan’s Topix fell 0.8% Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.7% Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was little changed The Shanghai Composite rose 0.3% Euro Stoxx 50 futures rose 0.2% Currencies
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed The euro was little changed at $1.1164 The Japanese yen fell 0.2% to 157.94 per dollar The offshore yuan was little changed at 6.6528 per dollar Cryptocurrencies
Bitcoin rose 0.7% to $78,371.71 Ether rose 1.3% to $2,291.16 Bonds
The yield on 10-year Treasuries was little changed at 4.93% Japan’s 10-year yield advanced 2.5 basis points to 2.780% Australia’s 10-year yield advanced two basis points to 5.14% Commodities
West Texas Intermediate crude fell 2.9% to $101.10 a barrel Spot gold rose 0.8% to $3,905.26 an ounce This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Ruth Carson.
©2026 Bloomberg L.P.
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