Asian Stocks Fall As Optimism Fades, US Bonds Hold Gains: Markets Wrap

Asian equities edged lower for a second day as a record-breaking rally lost steam. Treasuries held gains after rising in US trading amid mixed US economic data.

Stocks opened lower in Japan and South Korea. A gauge of global stocks and the S&P 500 Index both posted their first declines of 2026 on Wednesday. Samsung Electronics Co. fell 1.5% even after quarterly profit more than tripled to a record high on global demand for AI servers.

Treasury 10-year yields fell three basis points to 4.15% Wednesday after data showed signs of weakness in US employment, which kept alive bets for at least two Federal Reserve interest-rate cuts this year. Gold and silver steadied after falling for the first time this week.

“The data flow overnight was relatively mixed and that manifested as a mixed session on global markets,” Kyle Rodda, a senior analyst at Capital.com, wrote in a note. “The macroeconomic data also added to the choppiness on Wall Street.”

The moves were a sign the optimism that has boosted risk assets since the start of the year may be starting to wane in the face of rising geopolitical uncertainty and a mixed outlook for the global economy. A busy calendar awaits traders this week, with Friday’s US payrolls report coinciding with a Supreme Court ruling on President Donald Trump’s global tariffs.

Stocks have been rallying on optimism over solid earnings growth and inflation remaining sufficiently contained for the Fed to keep cutting borrowing costs. That rosy view has persisted despite a worsening geopolitical backdrop, including US actions in Venezuela, its threats of intervention elsewhere and rising tensions between China and Japan.

Global affairs remained in focus Wednesday as US forces seized two more sanctioned oil tankers as part of its energy quarantine of Venezuela. European leaders closed ranks behind Denmark as President Donald Trump amplified threats to seize Greenland.

Elsewhere, China started an anti-dumping probe into a key chipmaking material from Japan, escalating a dispute between Asia’s largest economies.

In commodities, copper slid from a record high Wednesday, declining along with other industrial metals, as traders booked profits from a swift run-up in prices. Futures for copper, nickel and zinc declined more than 2% at the close of trading on the London Metal Exchange.

Oil edged higher amid more measures from the US regarding Venezuela, including a plan to indefinitely control future crude sales and the seizure of two more sanctioned tankers.

Corporate News:

• Samsung Electronics’s profit jumped a better-than-projected 208%, driven by surging global demand for AI servers that sharply lifted memory chip prices.

• Asian defense stocks in focus after US peers climbed in late trading as Trump said he will request an increase in the military budget. Lockheed Martin Corp. and other military tech stocks fell after Trump said he wouldn’t allow dividends or stock buybacks for defense firms.

• Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. determined that an amended takeover offer from Paramount Skydance Corp. is inferior to the deal it already has in place with Netflix Inc.

• Pirelli & C. SpA is in talks with its largest shareholder, China’s Sinochem Group, over options that include reducing the Chinese conglomerate’s stake in the Italian tiremaker.

• BlueScope Steel Ltd. rejected an $8.8 billion takeover bid by US steelmaker Steel Dynamics Inc. and Australian conglomerate SGH Ltd.

Stocks

• S&P 500 futures were little changed as of 9:32 a.m. Tokyo time

• Hang Seng futures fell 0.5%

• Japan’s Topix fell 0.4%

• Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.2%

• Euro Stoxx 50 futures were little changed

Currencies

• The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed

• The euro was little changed at $1.1678

• The Japanese yen was little changed at 156.78 per dollar

• The offshore yuan was little changed at 6.9910 per dollar

Cryptocurrencies

• Bitcoin was little changed at $91,067.98

• Ether rose 0.3% to $3,157.05

Bonds

• The yield on 10-year Treasuries was little changed at 4.15%

• Japan’s 10-year yield declined three basis points to 2.090%

• Australia’s 10-year yield declined eight basis points to 4.68%

Commodities

• West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.6% to $56.32 a barrel

• Spot gold was little changed