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Asian trading mixed as AI worries grow
Asians trading is mixed as worries about the future of artificial intelligence grew after Alphabet's stock drop dragged on U.S. markets. Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 dropped in Friday morning trading.
Shares rose in Sydney and Hong Kong, but fell in Seoul and Shanghai. Shares related to the great market interest in AI have tended to be volatile. Alphabet is one of the most influential stocks on Wall Street.
Amazon offers cautious view after down 3Q
Amazon offered a cautious sales outlook for the current fourth quarter that encompasses the critical holiday shopping period after delivering fiscal third-quarter results that came in below Wall Street analysts' expectations.
The Seattle-based company, however, posted strong growth in its prominent cloud computing unit. Sales in the cloud computing unit, called Amazon Web Services, or AWS, rose 39.3% during the latest quarter ending Sept. 30, higher than the 37% clip during the previous quarter. The company said it marked the fastest growth rate in nearly five years.
Starbucks says US sales remain a bright spot
Strong U.S. demand pumped up Starbucks' results in its fiscal fourth quarter, but the coffee giant still fell short of revenue expectations. The Seattle coffee giant said global same-store sales rose 7.2% for the July-September period, which was higher than the 6% increase Wall Street was expecting, according to analysts polled by FactSet. That was largely due to strong demand in the U.S., where same-store sales jumped 7.7%.
International same-store sales rose less than 1%, and Starbucks noted a 2.8% decline in international store traffic. Net revenue fell 4% for the quarter to $9.1 billion. Starbucks said that was mostly due to the transfer of its China business to a joint venture.
European Central Bank head Lagarde resigns
European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde will resign nine months before her term ends. The ECB announced Thursday that Lagarde will leave on February 7.
Her departure opens the way for European leaders to choose a successor ahead of France's presidential election next year. Lagarde's resignation is expected to lead to complex political negotiations over her successor and replacements for two other top officials leaving next year. The ECB president leads the bank's governing council, which sets interest rates for the 21 countries using the euro. European Council President Antonio Costa said the selection process will proceed without delay.
Polymarket paused international trading
Polymarket temporarily halted trading on its international platform Thursday due to a security incident involving a third-party provider. Trading resumed after about an hour.
The prediction market platform paused trading "out of an abundance of caution" after identifying the issue, which it says has since been fixed. The company has promised to fully reimburse all affected traders. Polymarket referred the incident to law enforcement in the United Kingdom. Reports have linked the source of the incident to DebugBear, a UK-based company offering website performance monitoring tools. DebugBear said Thursday it was experiencing a security incident and it advised clients to remove certain embed codes.