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Stocks and yen struggle as tech troubles weigh

World stocks snapped a threeday winning streak on Thursday as disappointing forecasts from Facebook and Instagram parent Meta hammered tech, while the yen's drop through 155 per dollar for the first time since 1990 kept FX traders on intervention alert.

Both U.S. Q1 GDP data and more 'Big Tech' profits were set up for later in the day but for now it was Meta's 15%. after-hours rate slump that was souring the mood.

Japan's tech-heavy Nikkei moved 2% in Asian trading. and European tech stocks were down 0.8% in early dealing. as traders did basically the opposite to the previous day. after Tesla had promised new designs by early next year.

In an earnings-packed week, tech bellwethers are in the. spotlight, with Alphabet, Microsoft and Intel. likewise due to report on Thursday.

If Meta is a guide, it appears the market is simply not. tolerant of in-line-- if you have actually had a good run through Q1 & & Q2. you either blow the lights out, or the market takes its pound of. flesh, said Chris Weston, head of research at Pepperstone.

Chief Investment Officer at Close Brothers Asset Management,. Robert Alster, included that Mark Zuckerberg's comments on Meta. requiring to invest to keep up in the AI arms race had been another. significant factor.

European revenues and M&A deals were flooding in too.

London's FTSE 100 hit another record high as. UK-listed miner Anglo American surged 11% on a buyout. offer from Aussie rival BHP, while Deutsche Bank. slipped and BNP Paribas edged up after the. euro zone's most significant lending institutions posted positive first-quarter revenues.

United States GDP

Beyond corporate profits, financier focus will be on the. very first quarter U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) data due out. later on.

Current hotter-than-expected inflation reports have actually pushed. back and minimized expectations for Federal Reserve rate of interest. cuts, with markets now pricing in approximately a 70% opportunity of a. very first reduction in September. They are not even fully persuaded. there will now be another one this year, having anticipated around. six cuts at the start of the year.

The moving expectations of U.S. rates have lifted Treasury. yields and the dollar, casting a shadow on the currency market. Versus a basket of currencies, the dollar was little. altered at 105.75.

The Japanese yen, which is sensitive to U.S. Treasury yields, has felt the brunt of the dollar's climb and. is down 9% this year, the worst performing G-10 currency.

On Thursday, the yen was fetching 155.65 per dollar after. touching 155.675, its weakest in 34 years, throughout the Asian. session. It is also past the 155 yen level that some traders had. significant as the current line in the sand for Japan to act.

Tokyo has still not stepped in, and I repeat that it. does look like there will be no intervention so long as. USD/JPY's climb continues in a relatively non-volatile fashion,. stated RBC Capital Markets' head of Asian FX technique, Alvin Tan.

The Bank of Japan (BOJ) started its two-day rate-setting. conference on Thursday, with expectations that it will keep its key. short-term interest rate target unchanged.

Attention will be on what BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda's states. about the yen's battles. Ueda will want to avoid any repeat of. an episode in 2022, when remarks by his predecessor triggered a. huge yen tumble that required Tokyo to invest an estimated $60. billion attempting to stabilise it once again.

At this phase, if they were to intervene, they may as. well simply toss their money into the sea, stated Rob Carnell,. head of Asia-Pacific research study at ING. For all the great it will. do, except in the really brief run.

In the product markets, U.S. crude increased 0.1% to. $ 82.89 per barrel and Brent was at $88.13, up 0.12% on. the day. Gold, which struck a record high earlier this. month, inched as much as $2,326 an ounce.