Stocks hit by tech slump; yen flails at intervention zone
Asian stocks fell on Thursday as disappointing earnings forecasts from Facebook parent Meta Platforms hammered tech shares, while the yen's slump past 155 per dollar for the first time since 1990 raised the spectre of intervention from Tokyo.
A 15% dive in shares of Meta in extended trading after the Instagram parent forecast lighter-than-expected current quarter revenue and higher expenses soured the mood, sparking a sell-off in U.S. tech and tech-related stocks.
The predictable hit to Asian tech stocks took MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan down 0.7%.
Japan's Nikkei slid 1.3%, while China stocks also fell, with the blue-chip CSI300 index down 0.3% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index 0.5% lower.
In an earnings-packed week, the tech bellwethers are in the spotlight, with Alphabet, Microsoft and Intel due to report later on Thursday.
«If Meta is a guide, it seems the market is simply not tolerant of inline — if you've had a good run through Q1 & Q2 you either blow the lights out, or the market takes its pound of flesh,» said Chris Weston, head of research at Pepperstone.
Tech stocks had got a boost on Wednesday after Tesla said it would introduce «new models» by early 2025 using its current platforms and production lines.
Beyond corporate earnings, investor focus will be on the first quarter U.S. gross domestic product data on Thursday and personal consumption expenditures, the Fed's preferred inflation gauge, for March on Friday.
A hotter-than-expected consumer price inflation report for
