Asian shares surge after oil prices slip and Wall Street resumes its AI rally
May 20, 2026, 7:24 PM | Updated: May 21, 2026, 6:38 am
Shares rallied Thursday across Asia, tracking gains on Wall Street after pressure from the bond market eased and oil prices fell back.
The advance was also powered by a stronger-than-expected quarterly report from chipmaker Nvidia, whose profit rocketed more than 200% higher in the February-April quarter from a year earlier, while revenue jumped 85%.
Nvidia has been one of the biggest beneficiaries from the boom in artificial intelligence, thanks to powerful demand for its high-end AI chips. Its shares rose 1.3% on Wednesday before its earnings report was released, but they fell 1.3% in afterhours trading after the announcement.
South Korea’s Kospi soared 6.7% to 7,688.43, helped by strong buying of technology shares such as Samsung Electronics, which gained 6.3%. Shares in SK Hynix, a computer chipmaker partnering with Nvidia, surged 9.5%.
Taiwan’s Taiex, also heavily weighted toward technology shares, gained 3.3% as major chipmaker TSMC’s stock gained 2.3%.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 index jumped 3.5% to 61,877.89.
Chinese markets showed more modest gains, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng up 0.2% to 25,702.46, while the Shanghai Composite index added 0.4% to 4,179.16.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 picked up 1.3% to 8,606.70.
Oil prices edged higher early Thursday, a day after Brent crude dropped 5%. Brent, the international standard, gained 48 cents to $105.50 per barrel, while U.S. benchmark crude added 52 cents to $98.78 per barrel.
Brent remains well above its roughly $70 level from before the war with Iran. Prices have been yo-yoing on rising and falling hopes that the United States and Iran can reach an agreement to allow oil deliveries to fully resume from the Persian Gulf to customers worldwide.
On Wednesday, U.S. stocks bounced back, with the S&P 500 gaining 1.1% for its first rise in four days to close at 7,432,97. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 1.3% to 50,009.35 and the Nasdaq composite rallied 1.5% to 26,270.36.
Stocks got a lift from easing yields in the bond market, as the yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.57% from 4.67% late Tuesday. That’s a significant move for a market that measures things in hundredths of a percentage point.
The 10-year Treasury yield had been rising from less than 4% before the war with Iran began, along with other government bond yields around the world, because of worries that the fighting will keep oil prices high, among other factors. Inflation concerns reduce the chances the Federal Reserve will cut rates this year and raise risks that that world central banks may have to raise rates in 2026.
High yields slow economies and weigh on prices for stocks, cryptocurrencies and all kinds of other investments. Besides driving up rates for mortgages, they could also curtail companies’ borrowing to build the artificial-intelligence data centers that have been supporting the U.S. economy’s growth recently.
With the easing of yields, technology stocks helped lead Wall Street higher.
Tech stocks leading the market included Advanced Micro Devices, up 8.1%, and Intel, up 7.4%.
Smaller companies can feel even bigger relief from lower yields than their bigger rivals because many need to borrow to grow. The Russell 2000 index of the smallest U.S. stocks jumped 2.6%, more than double the gain of the S&P 500, which measures the biggest U.S. stocks.
Red Robin Gourmet Burgers jumped 18.2%, and Cava Group rose 3.1% following better-than-expected profit reports that raised hopes households can keep spending and supporting the economy despite high gasoline prices and pessimism over the economic outlook.
Most big U.S. companies have reported better profits for the start of 2026 than analysts expected, which has helped stocks run to records. Stock prices tend to follow the path of corporate profits over the long term.
On the losing side of Wall Street was Target, which fell 3.9% even though the retailer reported better profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. A new CEO, Michael Fiddelke, is trying to turn around the company and boost its revenue.
In other dealings early Thursday, the U.S. dollar fell to 158.85 Japanese yen from 158.92 yen. The euro rose to $1.1631 from $1.1624.
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AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Stan Choe contributed.
