Global markets began the week on a cautious note on Monday, 19 October 2026. Asian shares fell as investors continued to question the huge sums being spent on artificial intelligence, while oil prices eased after touching their highest level since May.
Asia: tech stocks under pressure
- Japan's Nikkei fell about 1.2%, after losing 5.4% last week.
- South Korea slipped 0.4%, after a drop of more than 14% last week.
- Taiwan fell 1.4%.
- MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan lost about 0.6%, and Chinese blue chips eased 0.2%.
Wall Street: a rough week for chips
US stocks ended Friday, 16 October, lower. The S&P 500 fell 1.1% to 7,659.44 and lost 1.9% for the week. The Nasdaq dropped 2.1% to 26,140.03 and was down 4.5% for the week, while the Dow slipped 0.3% to 52,002.41 but still gained 0.7% over the week. The Philadelphia semiconductor index fell 3.8% on Friday and 11.4% for the week, its eighth straight losing session and its longest losing streak since 2008. On Monday morning in Asia, S&P 500 futures were up about 0.7% and Nasdaq futures about 1%.
Oil, bonds, currencies and gold
- Oil: Brent crude briefly touched $110 a barrel on Friday. On Monday it fell about 1.7% to around $108, while US crude eased to around $100.6.
- Bonds: the 10-year US Treasury yield fell about 4 basis points to roughly 5.05%.
- Currencies: the euro traded near $1.123, the dollar near 157.9 yen, and China's yuan strengthened to about 6.68 per dollar, its strongest since July 2022.
- Gold: rose about 0.4% to around $4,180 an ounce.
Why AI spending is worrying investors
Goldman Sachs expects the five biggest AI cloud spenders to invest around $1.2 trillion in capital expenditure next year. Investors are increasingly asking how quickly that spending will generate profits, and some recent cancelled or delayed data centre deals have added to the nerves.
The week ahead
Earnings from Meta, Tesla, Netflix, Lam Research and Texas Instruments, along with SpaceX, will be closely watched for signs of whether the AI boom is still delivering growth. China's latest GDP data, released on Monday, beat expectations and offered some support to sentiment.
This article is based on reports available as of 19 October 2026. Market figures move quickly and may have changed since publication.
