Global stock markets diverged Friday after tame tech earnings and investor jitters less than a week before a neck-and-neck US presidential election.
Oil prices gained following reports that Iran was planning a major retaliatory strike on Israel as analysts say geopolitical fears have crept back into markets.
Big tech delivered a mixed bag of earnings this week, with concerns over AI spending overshadowing better-than-expected results from Microsoft and Facebook-parent Meta.
Wall Street closed sharply down on Thursday, with the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite index dropping nearly three percent.
Shares in Apple were lower in premarket trading even as the company enjoyed a boost from iPhone sales, while tech titan Amazon surged after it reported strong-than expected results particularly in cloud computing.
Tokyo dropped more than two percent as technology earnings hit it’s Nikkei index.
Major European indices fared better, buoyed by a forecast-beating Chinese manufacturing report that boosted hopes for recovery …