This content was published on
June 23, 2026 - 04:52
5 minutes
(Bloomberg) — Asian stocks slumped as a rally in technology shares faltered while investors awaited further developments in US-Iran peace talks.MSCI Inc.’s gauge of regional equities declined more than 1% after closing at a record high on Monday, and South Korea’s Kospi plunged nearly 5%. A subgauge of Asian tech names dropped after an eight-day winning run, as investors rotated out of some of this year’s top performers. S&P 500 futures also retreated while Nasdaq 100 contracts slid 0.8%.The moves came after a slide in megacap tech stocks and rising bond yields dragged the S%P 500 down 0.4% Monday. SpaceX shares tumbled 16% in a third straight day of losses, shedding hundreds of billions of dollars in value, after the company said it’s selling investment-grade bonds in what’s expected to be a massive borrowing spree.“The weakness in mega tech overnight is putting pressure on market sentiment,” said Fabien Yip, a market analyst at online brokerage IG International. “While the US-Iran peace deal continues to make progress, there are still fundamental differences on how both countries interpret the terms.”Brent crude edged higher to trade above $78 a barrel after falling more than 3% on Monday, when both Washington and Tehran cited progress in the first round of discussions toward a lasting peace agreement.The US issued a 60-day license allowing Iran to sell oil on the international market, giving it an economic lifeline, but some discrepancies have emerged — Vice President JD Vance said Iran agreed to allow nuclear inspectors into the country, a claim disputed by Tehran.In currencies, the Japanese yen lingered near its lowest level since 1986. Currency traders remained on high alert for intervention after a call between Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama and US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed after rising 0.2% on Monday.Stock RotationAttention is shifting to memory chipmaker Micron Technology Inc.’s quarterly results on Wednesday, which will be a critical test of whether AI spending can sustain its own rally — the shares are up more than 300% this year — as well as the run-up across tech.What Bloomberg Strategists Say:“Near-term risks for regional chip stocks include an increasingly unstable market structure and Micron’s earnings after the US close on Wednesday. Concerns are mounting about the prudence of unprecedented AI infrastructure investment from US hyperscalers.”— David Savage, Macro Squawk. Click here for the full analysis.The AI trade has been a key pillar for global equity markets this year, helping a gauge of world stocks overcome challenges posed by the Middle East conflict to notch successive record highs, most recently on June 2.Expectations that a peace deal will be reached, as well as solid corporate earnings, have fueled a 14% advance in the S&P 500 Index this quarter through Monday. However, that trails a 26% surge in the MSCI Asia Pacific Index. Benchmarks in Taiwan, South Korea and Japan’s Nikkei 225 have each soared at least 40%.“Asian markets are tracking a rotation already underway in the US rather than a fresh risk-off move,” said Billy Leung, an investment strategist at Global X Management in Sydney. “Hyperscalers have been leading the pullback on AI capex concerns and negative cash flow concerns.”Meanwhile, Treasuries fell on Monday as trading resumed following a US public holiday, even as oil prices turned lower. Strategists cited Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh’s hawkish messaging last week as one of the reasons for the selling pressure. Bond traders are looking to this week’s personal spending data in the US for an early read on whether the market’s newly hawkish stance is warranted.Elsewhere in markets, gold declined almost 1% while silver lost more than 2%. Bitcoin also edged lower.“Iran talks shifting to lower-level technical discussions is keeping some uncertainty alive, but the real swing factor this week remains core PCE on Thursday,” said Leung of Global X.Some of the main moves in markets:StocksS&P 500 futures fell 0.3% as of 11:46 a.m. Tokyo time Japan’s Topix fell 0.8% Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was little changed Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.6% The Shanghai Composite rose 0.2% Euro Stoxx 50 futures fell 0.5% CurrenciesThe Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed The euro was unchanged at $1.1429 The Japanese yen was little changed at 161.56 per dollar The offshore yuan was little changed at 6.7785 per dollar CryptocurrenciesBitcoin fell 0.4% to $64,103.98 Ether fell 0.2% to $1,729.83 BondsThe yield on 10-year Treasuries declined one basis point to 4.50% Japan’s 10-year yield was little changed at 2.665% Australia’s 10-year yield declined two basis points to 4.79% CommoditiesWest Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.5% to $74.20 a barrel Spot gold fell 0.8% to $4,155.13 an ounce This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.–With assistance from Carmeli Argana.©2026 Bloomberg L.P.
