US stock futures pointed in different directions early Friday, a day after a steep technology-led decline pushed the Nasdaq Composite into correction territory, according to CNBC. Dow futures were down 1.3% and S&P 500 futures had lost 0.35%, while Nasdaq-100 futures gained 0.3%, recovering a small part of Thursday's losses. Investors were also waiting on the October payrolls report.
The sell-off rippled across Asia-Pacific markets on Friday. South Korea's Kospi dropped more than 6% to close at 5,059.69, a weekly decline of 11.7%, CNBC reported. Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 5.96% to 57,434.77, a level that places it in bear market territory. Taiwan's Taiex also entered a bear market after a 4.51% drop to 39,701.64. Mainland China's CSI 300 declined 1.44% to 4,054.28, Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 1.32% in its final hour of trading, and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.49% to 9,020.8.
Why it matters
Thursday's session produced the worst single-day performance for the three major US averages since April 2025, per CNBC. The Nasdaq Composite lost 5.5% and closed more than 10% below its most recent peak, the threshold that defines a correction. The S&P 500 shed 4.4%, and the Dow dropped more than 1,800 points, or 3.4%.
The damage landed hardest on companies tied to artificial intelligence infrastructure. Micron Technology and Advanced Micro Devices each fell 17%, and cloud provider CoreWeave slid 10%. Nvidia lost 9% and turned negative for the year, while the Magnificent Seven group of large technology companies shed more than $1 trillion in combined market value, CNBC reported.
NPR characterized the move as a $2 trillion rout in technology stocks driven by fears of an AI crackdown following the midterms. The Economist framed the reaction as markets turning against the outcome of the elections. Bloomberg called it the worst US stock rout since 2020.
Every one of the S&P 500's 11 sectors closed lower. According to CNBC, Democratic victories in the House, the Senate and governorships in states including Texas raised concerns among traders about a possible slowdown in data center construction.
For the week, the Nasdaq was down 4.4% and the S&P 500 nearly 3%, while the Dow had lost just 0.5%, making it the strongest of the three.
A debate over growth rates, not demand
Victoria Greene, chief investment officer at G Squared Private Wealth, told CNBC on Thursday that the pullback offers an entry point. She said the AI trade is "not dead here" and described the decline as "a good discount." Greene said she is focused on memory stocks, pointing to how management teams have discussed capacity constraints throughout this earnings season. She added that purchasing into a volatile dip has tended to pay off as long as the economy is not in recession.
William de Gale, co-founder and lead portfolio manager at Blue Box Asset Management, offered a different lens on CNBC's "Squawk Box Europe." He said the week's sharp decline in AI-linked names reflects growth expectations being reset to a more sustainable level rather than a collapse in demand, which he described as "insatiable."
De Gale noted that the technology sector has delivered roughly 15% profit and share price growth for close to two decades, held back by constraints in semiconductor equipment, raw materials, energy, staffing and permitting. AI grew faster because it started from a smaller base, he said, but it is now large enough to run into the same ceiling. In his view, models projecting 30% revenue growth far into the future need to be revised down to 15% to 20%, and that revision is what markets are working through.
Europe follows Asia lower
The pan-European Stoxx 600 was down 1.26% in early trading Friday, CNBC reported, after the losses in Asia-Pacific and on Wall Street. All sectors were in negative territory. Technology held up comparatively well with a 0.8% decline, while media stocks fell 2.4% and health care dropped 2.2%.
In corporate news, Germany's Daimler Truck reported an 89% year-on-year rise in earnings before interest and taxes to 1.05 billion euros ($1.18 billion), according to CNBC. North American truck sales climbed 51%, which the company linked to a continuing market recovery and to tariff uncertainty in the comparable quarter a year earlier. The North American heavy-duty truck market contracted 7% over the first three quarters, offset by 8% growth in Europe. Chief financial officer Eva Scherer said the company showed "discipline in converting performance into cash" and intends to keep that discipline. Daimler flagged continuing headwinds, including slowing growth, higher energy costs and global economic uncertainty.
CNBC also reported that the US is likely to resume military action against Iran in the coming days, a development that could affect oil prices.
What to watch
Friday morning's October payrolls report is the next test for markets. The Dow Jones consensus estimate, cited by CNBC, calls for 59,000 jobs added last month with the unemployment rate holding at 4.2%.
