BANGKOK — Global stocks were mostly higher on Friday after U.S. stocks fell in Nvidia’s worst day since last spring.
U.S. futures fell as investors focused on Block CEO Jack Dorsey’s comments about Block’s decision to lay off 40% of its workforce over labor-saving artificial intelligence.
The S&P 500 futures index fell 0.1%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average futures index fell 0.3%.
Germany’s DAX rose 0.3% to 25,373.74, while the CAC40 rose less than 0.1% to 8,625.54. Britain’s FTSE 100 index rose 0.5% to 10,904.24.
In Asian trading, Tokyo’s Nikkei Stock Average rose 0.2% to 58,850.27 yen.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index rose 1% to 26,630.54, while the Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.4% to 4,162.88.
South Korea’s Kospi fell 1% to 6,244.13 as traders sold to lock in profits from recent gains.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index closed 0.3% higher at 9,198.60, while India’s Sensex index fell 0.8%.
On Thursday, the S&P 500 fell 0.5% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose less than 0.1%. The Nasdaq Composite fell 1.2%. Up to 22,878.38.
US inflation data is expected to be released later on Friday. The number of U.S. workers applying for unemployment benefits rose last week, but not as much as economists expected, according to a report. It also remains at a low level compared to history.
Nvidia, whose chips are helping fuel the AI boom, reported impressive quarterly profit growth that far exceeded analysts’ expectations. The company’s sales forecast for the current quarter again exceeded Wall Street’s expectations. But such explosive performance has become typical of Nvidia, and it’s starting to lose its vitality. The company’s stock price fell 5.5%, its worst loss since April.
Shares in Block, formerly known as Square, rose 5% on Thursday before announcing better-than-expected earnings, but soared more than 20% after the market closed following Mr. Dorsey’s comments that he would lay off about 4,000 of his 10,000 employees.
“As a smaller, faster, intelligence-focused company, we believe that Block will be significantly more valuable, and everything we do going forward will be in service of that,” Dorsey said in a letter to shareholders.
Mr. Dorsey “just did what most CEOs would only whisper in their boardrooms,” SPI Asset Management’s Stephen Innes said in a commentary.
“For years, we’ve been debating whether AI will squeeze jobs at the margins. Now, we’ve published a case study in which a CEO clearly states that intelligence tools have changed what it means to start and run a company,” he said.
Elsewhere on Wall Street, shares of streaming giant Netflix rose 7.9% in premarket trading after the company backed away from its proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery’s studio and streaming businesses. This puts Paramount, owned by Skydance, in a position to acquire its Hollywood rival.
Netflix said the acquisition was “no longer financially attractive” given the price required to acquire Warner after its board declared Paramount’s offer superior.
Shares of Warner Bros. fell 0.3% on Thursday after the entertainment giant reported a loss of US$252 million in the fourth quarter.
In other trading early Friday, benchmark U.S. crude oil rose 89 cents to $66.10 per barrel. Oil prices have been fluctuating while the United States and Iran are holding indirect talks over Iran’s nuclear program. U.S. crude oil prices briefly fell to $63.60 per barrel on Thursday, but have since rebounded.
Both sides left recent talks without an agreement. This leaves the risk of another Middle East war as the US concentrates large scale aircraft and warships in the region.
A peaceful resolution would reduce the threat of war, potentially disrupting global oil flows and raising prices.
Brent crude oil, the international standard, rose 79 U.S. cents early Friday to $71.63 per barrel.
The dollar rose to 156.18 yen from 156.13 yen. The euro rose to $1.1805 from $1.1796.
Elaine Kurtenbach, Associated Press
