Asian shares are mixed after Nvidia’s losses pull Wall St lower, as AI-linked layoffs rattle markets

BANGKOK (AP) — Shares were mixed Friday in Asia after the worst day for Nvidia’s stock since last spring dragged U.S. stocks lower.

U.S. futures fell as investors focused on comments by Block CEO Jack Dorsey on his company’s decision to lay off 40% of its workforce because of labor-saving artificial intelligence.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 edged 0.1% higher to 58,810.03.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng jumped 0.8% to 26,578.03, while the Shanghai Composite index slipped 0.3% to 4,139.53.

South Korea’s Kospi lost 0.6% to 6,288.40 as traders locked in profits from recent gains.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.1% at 9,184.10, while India’s Sensex lost 0.4%.

The future for the S&P 500 lost 0.2% while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.4%.

On Thursday, the S&P 500 shed 0.5% to 6,908.86. The Dow added less than 0.1% to 49,499.20, and the Nasdaq composite sank 1.2% to 22,878.38.

A report showed that the number of U.S. workers applying for unemployment benefits ticked up last week, but not by any more than economists expected. It also remains relatively low compared with history.

Nvidia, whose chips are helping to power the AI boom, reported another stellar quarter of profit growth that breezed past analysts’ expectations. Its forecast for revenue in the current quarter again topped Wall Street estimates.

But such blowout performances have become so typical for Nvidia that they’re losing their oomph. Its stock sank 5.5% for its worst loss since April.

Shares in Block, formerly known as Square, gained 5% on Thursday before it reported better than expected earnings, and then shot up more than 20% after the markets closed following Dorsey’s comments on laying off about 4,000 of its 10,000 employees.

“We believe Block will be signficantly more valuable as a smaller, faster, intelligence-native company. Everything we do from here is in service of that,” Dorsey wrote in a letter to shareholders.

Dorsey “just did what most CEOs have only whispered about in boardrooms,” Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management wrote in a commentary.

“For years we’ve debated whether AI would dent jobs at the margin. Now we have a public case study where the CEO explicitly says intelligence tools have changed what it means to build and run a company,” he said.

Despite Nvidia’s troubles, seven stocks rose in the S&P 500 for every three that fell. Among them was Salesforce, which climbed 4% after it likewise reported a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected.

Companies in industries as far flung as trucking logistics and financial services have seen their stocks come under attack by investors worried those businesses may lose out to AI or even become obsolete.

Elsewhere on Wall Street, shares in streaming giant Netflix jumped 9.2% in after-hours trading after it walked away from its bid to buy Warner Bros. Discovery’s studio and streaming business. That put Skydance-owned Paramount in a position to take over its Hollywood rival.

Netflix said the price required to buy Warner after its board announced that Paramount’s offer was superior would make it a deal that is “no longer financially attractive.”

On Thursday, Warner Bros. shares edged down 0.3% after the entertainment giant reported a $252 million loss for the fourth quarter.

In other dealings early Friday, U.S. benchmark crude oil gained 43 cents to $65.64 per barrel. Crude prices have been swinging while the United States and Iran held indirect talks about Iran’s nuclear program. A barrel of U.S. crude briefly fell as low as $63.60 on Thursday before it bounced back.

A peaceful solution would lessen the threat of war, which could disrupt the global flow of oil and drive prices higher. The U.S. military has already built up the largest force of American warships and aircraft in the Middle East in decades, raising the stakes.

Brent crude, the international standard, gained 27 cents early Friday to $71.11 per barrel.

The U.S. dollar fell to 155.80 Japanese yen from 156.13 yen. The euro rose to $1.1810 from $1.1796.

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AP Business Writers Stan Choe and Matt Ott contributed.