HONG KONG (AP) — U.S. futures fell while Asian shares mostly advanced on Thursday after strong-than-expected earnings from chipmaker Nvidia helped ease some investor worries over the artificial intelligence boom.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 crossed the 59,000 mark for the first time, although it later gave up some gains, rising 0.2% to 58,715.33. Shares of SoftBank Group, which has a focus on AI technology, were up 3.5%. Chipmaker Tokyo Electron lost 2.8%.
Share prices also pushed higher after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi appointed two economists viewed as favoring keeping interest rates low to the board of the central bank.
South Korea’s Kospi surged 2.3% to 6,222.29, driven by gains for tech-related stocks. The index surpassed the 6,000 level for the first time on Wednesday. It has gained 44% since the beginning of this year after enduring a year of political upheavals that ended with former President Yoon Suk Yeol being sentenced to life in prison.
Shares of Samsung Electronics, the country’s biggest listed company, jumped 5.5%. Chipmaker SK Hynix gained 2.5%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 0.4% to 26,656.29. The Shanghai Composite index edged 0.1% lower to 4,144.08.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.5% to 9,174.50.
Taiwan's Taiex picked up 0.2%, while India's Sensex traded 0.3% higher.
Nvidia’s earnings influence global financial markets both because it is the world’s most valuable company and the biggest S&P 500 constituent and because it is benefiting from advances in AI-related technologies.
Its latest quarterly revenue jumped 73% from a year earlier to $68 billion. The California-based company also gave a forecast of $78 billion for revenue in the current quarter, which exceeded analysts’ expectations.
Its CEO, Jensen Huang, said demand for Nvidia chips is still “skyrocketing.”
“AI is here, AI is not going to go back,” Huang said during a conference call.
Nvidia rose 0.2% in afterhours trading following its earnings announcement, which came after markets closed on Wednesday.
Its robust earnings helped alleviate some concerns over whether the AI craze is real and whether huge investments will pay off. But many investors remain cautious.
Thomas Mathews, head of markets for Asia Pacific at Capital Economics, however argued in a research note on Thursday that “strong profit growth, as emphasized by recent earnings reports”, including Nvidia’s, is a key reason to think the S&P 500 will do well in 2026. He forecast the S&P 500 at 8,000 by the year's end.
On Wednesday, the S&P 500 rose 0.8% to 6,946.13. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.6% to 49,482.15, and the Nasdaq composite gained 1.3% to 23,152.08.
In other dealings early Thursday, U.S. benchmark crude oil gained 16 cents to $65.58 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, rose 21 cents to $71.90 a barrel.
Gold and silver prices fell on Thursday. The price of gold lost 0.3% and the price of silver fell 2%.
The U.S. dollar fell to 155.89 Japanese yen from 156.39 yen. The euro was trading at $1.1817, up from $1.1812.
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AP writers Stan Choe and Michael Liedtke contributed.
