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Reuters reported that Asian shares gave up earlier gains on Thursday as AI-related earnings announcements prompted wildly mixed responses from investors raising the stakes for forthcoming results from Amazon and Intel. Hefty cash burn from Alphabet sent its shares 10 percent lower in after-hours trading wiping nearly 400 billion dollars off its market value and driving Nasdaq futures 1 percent lower. By contrast Microsoft beat forecasts with better-than-expected cash flows that lifted its shares by 3 percent according to the wire service.
The Reuters dispatch noted that Samsung Electronics said its operating profit rose nearly ninefold to a record high in the third quarter driven by robust demand for AI chips. Nevertheless its shares slid more than 4 percent and dragged the KOSPI index down 2.6 percent after a nearly 7 percent surge a day earlier. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dropped 0.7 percent while Japan’s Nikkei index trimmed gains to be up 0.3 percent.
Mainland China’s blue chips fell 0.9 percent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 0.2 percent in the regional trading session a Reuters market update showed. Alphabet reported quarterly revenue of 127.6 billion dollars missing the 128.2 billion dollar estimate and posted negative free cash flow of 9.1 billion dollars according to LSEG data cited by the news service. A separate Reuters article on the earnings detailed that Google advertising revenue came in at 82.01 billion dollars while the cloud unit beat estimates as corporate customers embraced the technology.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the decline in Alphabet shares could cost more than 300 billion dollars in market capitalization if it holds into the regular session marking one of the sharpest drops in years for the company. This follows a period where technology stocks have been sensitive to quarterly performance on optimism around artificial intelligence applications a pattern noted in recent market coverage. Investors now await earnings from Amazon and Intel due later on the same day according to multiple market reports.
Bloomberg noted in its coverage that the Samsung earnings reversal came after the Kospi had posted its biggest rally since July on strong results from another chipmaker. The mixed signals from major technology firms have drawn attention to the balance between innovation costs and revenue generation in the sector. The European Central Bank policy meeting adds another layer of focus for traders monitoring global monetary developments a Bloomberg assessment found.
Data from LSEG cited in the Reuters report showed Alphabet missed break-even expectations on free cash flow for the first time in more than two decades as a public company. The developments come as the broader market assesses performance across the technology sector with additional earnings reports scheduled in the coming sessions. Further details on market reactions continued to emerge as trading progressed across global exchanges.
