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(Bloomberg) — US equity-index futures fell at the open after Apple Inc. warned about margins amid concerns whether the heavy investments by tech companies in artificial intelligence will deliver sufficient returns. Gold rebounded in early Friday, while silver advanced.
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Futures contracts for the S&P 500 Index and the the Nasdaq 100 Index slipped 0.2% early Friday. Technology shares were in focus after Apple said rising component costs are threatening to squeeze margins, even as its earnings beat estimates. The company’s shares edged up in extended trading, while Asian shares also made a modest gain at the open.
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Meanwhile, President Donald Trump said he will announce his pick for a nominee to chair the Federal Reserve on Friday morning. Trump also said he will de-certify all aircraft made in Canada and threatened to impose levies on countries that provide oil to Cuba. Treasuries edged lower in early Asian trading.
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The market moves highlighted a growing split with enthusiasm for AI increasingly tempered by valuation and the timing of returns. While strength in commodities has lent support to parts of Asia, volatility in US tech showed investor unease over AI-related capital spending. Asian shares have risen 8.8% this month.
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“I’m relatively surprised with the perky start to the year given the concerns on AI spending,” said Nick Twidale, chief market analyst at AT Global Markets.
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US stocks had a choppy day on Thursday with dip buyers coming in after a slide driven by concerns over whether unprecedented AI spending will justify the capital deployed. Attention on the theme intensified after Amazon.com Inc. was in talks to invest as much as $50 billion in OpenAI, which the Wall Street Journal said is planning a fourth-quarter initial public offering.
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The “Magnificent Seven” tech giants have led the stock market higher for much of the past three years. But that reversed at the end of 2025 as Wall Street grew skeptical of the hundreds of billions of dollars the companies are spending to develop AI and when the returns on those investments will materialize.
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“The one-way bet on AI leadership is now starting to look overcrowded,” said Fawad Razaqzada at Forex.com. “There is now some fear creeping into investors’ minds that the AI theme may not be as immediately lucrative as hoped.”
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Simmering concerns over tech spending may also threaten one of the best starts to a year for Asian stocks in decades. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index has climbed 8.7% this month, its best January since inception in 1998.
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Indonesian stocks will be in focus in Asia on Friday following a late-session recovery from their deepest two-day rout in nearly three decades. Regulators rushed to implement measures aimed at averting a potential downgrade by index compiler MSCI Inc. that sparked a crisis of confidence in the equity market.
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