Asian stock markets and US futures traded unevenly on Thursday as disappointing earnings from Google parent Alphabet weighed on technology shares, while investors assessed the outlook for interest rates and geopolitical tensions involving Iran.
The US Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged at the conclusion of its policy meeting on Wednesday. However, two officials supported a rate hike, and analysts said another increase in December remained possible as inflation continued to exceed the central bank's target.
Investors are also awaiting the European Central Bank's policy decision later Thursday. The Bank of Japan is widely expected to maintain its current policy stance when its meeting concludes on Friday.
Oil prices fell more than 1% despite warnings from US officials that renewed military action against Iran could follow the Nov 3 midterm elections.
In Asian trading, Japan's Nikkei 225 edged up 0.2% to 64,073.17, while SoftBank Group shares declined 0.5%.
South Korea's Kospi dropped 2.2% to 5,880.25. Samsung Electronics fell 5.4% despite reporting strong quarterly results, as its latest shareholder return arrangements disappointed some investors. Meanwhile, SK Hynix gained 1.6% after surging 10.9% in the previous session following better-than-expected earnings.
Taiwan's Taiex declined 1.9%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng edged up less than 0.1% to 23,101.86. The Shanghai Composite fell 0.9% to 3,647.12, while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 advanced 0.5% to 8,888.50.
Recent earnings reports from major US technology companies have unsettled markets, where expectations remain high amid the global AI boom.
Alphabet shares dropped about 10% in after-hours trading after its quarterly revenue fell short of expectations, raising concerns about whether the company can generate sufficient returns from its substantial AI investments.
Microsoft shares, however, rose nearly 3% after the company reported better-than-expected earnings.
On Wall Street, the S&P 500 gained 0.3% on Wednesday, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq Composite each advanced 0.2% and 0.3%, respectively.
In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year US Treasury eased below 5.00% after briefly reaching around 5.04% on Wednesday. The two-year Treasury yield settled at 4.68%, down from above 4.77% a day earlier.
Brent crude, the international benchmark, fell 1.2% to $110.32 per barrel, while US benchmark crude declined 1.3% to $101.46. Despite the latest declines, both remained well above their pre-war levels of around $72 per barrel for Brent before the conflict involving Iran began in late February.
In currency trading, the US dollar slipped to 157.72 Japanese yen from 157.84 yen, while the euro weakened to $1.1146 from $1.1154.