Asian stocks wobble after oracle miss

Asian stocks opened higher but turned volatile after U.S. cloud computing giant Oracle reported disappointing earnings and cut its outlook, raising doubts about AI-related profitability and prompting profit-taking in tech shares. Oracle plunged more than 11% after-hours, pulling S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures lower and triggering a cautious tone across markets already sensitive to lofty tech valuations and economic uncertainty.

Tokyo’s Nikkei initially rose but later lost momentum as AI-linked names and chipmakers retreated, while transportation and industrial stocks offered some support. South Korea’s KOSPI showed early gains but fell back as heavyweight tech companies weighed on the index, despite resilience in energy and consumer segments. Taiwan’s TAIEX slipped after an early open. Hong Kong trading was choppy, with the Hang Seng hovering near flat as investors balanced Oracle’s results against signs of improving liquidity in mainland China. China’s Shanghai Composite was little changed at the open.

Analysts attributed the market wobble to Oracle’s slower-than-expected cloud revenue growth and rising costs, which reignited concerns about whether infrastructure spending on AI is translating quickly into profits. The miss prompted some funds to trim high-growth tech exposure and rotate into defensive sectors amid lingering uncertainty about U.S. interest-rate direction and regional monetary conditions.

Fixed-income markets showed firmness and the dollar remained under pressure after the Federal Reserve cut U.S. interest rates, while short-term money markets have recently priced higher premiums amid stretched liquidity. Currency moves included modest strengthening of the yen and Korean won as investors sought safer havens.

Despite the near-term turbulence, analysts noted that regional fundamentals—stable consumer spending, resilient exports and improving monetary conditions in parts of Asia—remain intact. They cautioned, however, that upcoming earnings from other major global tech firms and further policy signals will likely determine whether volatility eases or deepens, with Oracle’s results serving as a catalyst for renewed caution among investors.