Signing off...
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Thanks for following our coverage of the tech rout in global markets.
A quick look at markets show Wall Street has staged a recovery after falling sharply in early trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite were all little changed.
However, European markets remained lower. The FTSE 100 was last down 0.4pc.
Stay up to date with the latest here.
Tech stocks down heavily from record highs
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Tech stocks have taken a beating this week but several major companies have fallen heavily from record highs set last year.
Crypto platform Coinbase has plunged 66pc, Salesforce has declined by 59pc and Oracle has dropped 53pc since hitting all-time peaks in 2025.
Netflix is down 47pc from a record high last year, Palantir has dropped 48pc and Microsoft has declined 35pc.
US stocks fall at the opening bell
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The AI rout has sent stocks lower on Wall Street.
The Nasdaq Composite, which has a high density of tech companies, has fallen 1.3pc at the opening bell to 25,035.70.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average has declined 0.4pc to 51,722.12 while the benchmark S&P 500 has dropped 0.8pc to 7,301.35.
‘Considerable’ trader borrowing behind sharp falls in stocks
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Traders funding bets with higher levels of borrowing is behind the sharp falls in Asian markets in recent weeks, an economist has said.
Mohamed El-Erian, chief economic adviser at Allianz, said steep declines on South Korea’s and Japan’s stock markets show there are large levels of “leverage” being used.
This is where traders borrow money to juice returns but also risk exacerbating losses.
Mr El-Erian said: “My sense is that leverage is considerable and the contagion risk is more financial than economic.”
The even wilder volatility of Asian markets this week will push two issues to the analytical radar screen:
— Mohamed A. El-Erian (@elerianm) June 26, 2026
How large and fragile is the degree of financial leverage in key Asian markets such as Korea and Japan; and
Are the contagion risks limited to financial markets, or could…
SpaceX bond losses deepen
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SpaceX debt is rapidly losing its value on bond markets after Elon Musk’s rocket company raised $25bn from investors.
Traders told Bloomberg they cannot remember a recent deal where the value of the bonds dropped so sharply.
Investors who bought the group’s bonds are sitting on paper losses of around $305m compared to if they had invested in comparable US Treasuries.
Many have raised concerns that SpaceX’s decision to raise money through debt so soon after a record breaking listing on Wall Street
Ludovic Subran, chief investment officer at Allianz, told the Financial Times it was a sign the market has moved from “a healthy boom, a stretched boom . . . into bubble territory”.
UK stocks sink amid AI fears
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The FTSE 100 has fallen as uncertainty around AI hit markets.
The UK’s blue-chip index was down 0.9pc, while the mid-cap FTSE 250 fell 1.1pc as declines spread across global markets.
Energy stocks weighed on the FTSE 100, with Shell and BP down over 1pc each following a 3pc fall in oil prices as shipping resumes through the Strait of Hormuz.
However, the internationally focused index remains on course for its biggest weekly in more than a month amid hopes for peace in the Middle East.
AI suffering from data quality ‘bottleneck’
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The next bottleneck facing AI companies is not being able to get hold of chips, but getting the right data, according to a top analyst.
Dan Ives, a technology analyst at Wedbush Securities, said executives at the brokerage’s disruptive technology conference this week said the quality of data would be the main way people judge which chatbots are more useful than others.
He said many AI companies were failing to grow because customers were struggling with “stale, incomplete, or poorly structured data which leads to poor performance”.
He said the difference between data that is “seconds old versus hours/days old” could be the largest factor that makes AI a useful tool.
AI ‘super bubble’ ready to burst, warn Chinese hedge funds
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Two of China’s major hedge funds have warned that the boom in AI has turned into a bubble facing an imminent collapse.
Wealspring Asset, whose founder Yang Dong called the top of the stock market in 2007, said AI stocks were forming a “super bubble”.
It told investors the “collapse point may not be far away”, according to Bloomberg News.
Meanwhile, fellow hedge fund Shanghai Banxia Investment Management Center warned about the dramatic revenue growth of Claude chatbot developer Antrophic.
It said: “The trigger for the AI bubble to burst has already appeared.”
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In today’s To Business newsletter, Hans van Leeuwen, our International Economics Editor, warns that Andy Burnham’s luck will eventually run out.
As oil tankers return to the Strait of Hormuz and central bankers breathe a sigh of relief, it appears Burnham will be walking through the door of No 10 with the world in a relatively stable position. However, with Trump and Iran discussing the prospect of tolls on the strait, disorderly energy markets and a trigger-happy Israel, the King of the North shouldn’t expect his luck to hold.
For daily analysis of the business trends you should care about, sign up to receive To Business in your inbox here.
US stocks poised to fall over AI doubts
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Tech shares look on track to slump again on Wall Street on a week of sharp swings.
Memory chipmaker Micron Technology has shed 4.8pc in premarket trading after jumping more than 15pc on Thursday after its robust quarterly forecast lifted technology stocks around the world.
Chip stocks, among the biggest winners of the AI trade this year, have ran into turbulence earlier this week.
While investors questioned lofty AI-driven valuations, large hyperscalers such as Alphabet and Amazon fell on doubts about how quickly could heavy data-centre spending translate into profits.
The latest downturn has been triggered by warnings from Apple that AI chip costs will push up the price of some of its products, while ChatGPT maker OpenAI is reportedly considering delaying a blockbuster listing over the recent market turbulence.
Ahead of the opening bell, the tech-heavy Nasdaq was down 1.1pc, the S&P 500 was down 0.5pc and the Dow Jones Industrial Average 0.1pc.
China tech listings at three-year high
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The downturn in stock markets comes as China’s technology listings are on track for their strongest year since 2023 as Beijing seeks to bolster the number of floats of chip and artificial intelligence companies.
Technology companies have raised a total of $3.1bn (£2.4bn) from stock market listings in China so far this year, more than five times the volume over the same period last year, according to LSEG data.
Nearly 50 companies, including robotics startups and semiconductor firms, have applied for initial public offerings in Shanghai and Shenzhen, with fundraising plans totalling at least 126.1bn yuan (£14bn), according to Reuters.
One of the listing hopefuls, memory-chip maker ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT), is planning to launch a 29.5 billion yuan Shanghai IPO, which would be the largest this year and boost total listing value to a three-year high.
Europe’s tech stocks swept up in sell-off
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Europe’s tech sector dropped sharply after sell-off in Asian markets.
Chipmakers Infineon and STMicroelectronics slipped 3pc and 2.4pc, respectively, while semiconductor equipment makers BE Semiconductor and ASML dropped 2.5pc and 1.1pc.
AI equipment maker Schneider Electric shed 1.8pc.
d Craig Cameron, portfolio manager at Templeton Global Investments, said: “The realities of rising memory costs are being felt across other sectors.
“The market has largely expected this kind of shift and clearly we’ve reached a point where, from a consumer and smartphone and PC-type perspective, it just doesn’t make any sense to keep prices flat when memory is becoming such a large portion of costs.”
EU warns of delays in oil supplies
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In a warning sign for markets, the EU said it would take some time for oil supplies to reach the Continent as shipping resumes through the Strait of Hormuz.
The European Union’s oil co-ordination group said that while flows of oil were slowly recovering following a preliminary pact to try to end the Iran war, it would nevertheless take a while for supplies to reach their destination.
“The Oil Coordination Group noted reports that trade flows are slowly beginning to recover following the memorandum of understanding signed between the United States and Iran last week. However, the group also noted that it will take time for supplies from the region to reach Europe,” it said.
“As regards crude oil, the group noted that the situation is stable for the time being, largely owing to global stock draws in the last months.”
Oil prices have fallen 2.5pc towards $73 a barrel after Saudi Aramco resumed crude loadings on Friday at its Ras Tanura terminal in the Gulf.
The site had been closed for nearly four months as a result of the Iran war.
Traders shrugged off reports that a ship belonging to Taiwan’s Evergreen Marine was hit by an unknown object in the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday.
Apple raises iPad and MacBook prices by up to £300
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Apple has raised laptop and iPad prices by up to 25pc after a surge in chip costs caused by the AI boom.
The company increased the prices of its MacBook Pro, Air and Neo and iPad Pro and Air gadgets on Thursday, warning that further rises were coming.
Tim Cook, Apple’s chief executive, said last week that price rises were inevitable because of the soaring costs of memory chips, which are in hot demand because of the construction of AI data centres.
European shares drop in tech rout
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Europe’s stock markets fell at the open after Apple raised its prices in a sign the huge costs of AI could be passed on to consumers.
The Cac 40 in Paris declined by 0.3pc to 8,407.30 while the Dax in Frankfurt dropped by 0.8pc to 24,805.51 in early trading.
The declines followed sharp falls in shares in Asia after Apple blamed its price rises on the surging cost of memory chips, driven by AI demand.
Jim Reid, an analyst at Deutsche Bank, said the news “played into broader concerns that AI data centres were generating inflationary pressures”.
Samsung ‘to announce record investment plan’
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Samsung is expected to announce a record investment plan next week, according to local media reports, in a massive bet on AI-driven semiconductor demand.
The 1,000 trillion won (£493bn) package, to be announced by the chip giant and the South Korean government, will reportedly include spending on AI data centres, batteries and displays.
It could also feature a 300 trillion won push to build chip factories in South Korea, the Maeil Business Newspaper said on Friday.
It comes after an 184pc surge in the company’s shares so far this year amid the excitement surrounding AI.
The tech boom has sent profits skyrocketing, with Samsung recently agreeing a bonus deal with its workers’ union to avert a major strike.
The proposed 10-year spending package would be the largest investment commitment ever announced by a South Korean company.
UK stocks fall at the open
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The FTSE 100 declined at the start of trading in the wake of another tech rout this week.
The UK’s flagship stock index declined 0.3pc to 10,496.64, while the mid-cap FTSE 250 also opened 0.3pc lower at 23,090.78.
Trading halted in South Korea as stocks plunge
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Trading was halted for the second time in a week on South Korea’s benchmark stock index as investors dumped shares linked to AI.
The Kospi is the best performing major stock index in the world so far this year, having doubled in value since the start of the year. It has surged a monstrous 70pc in the second quarter alone.
However, it has become prone to sharp corrections as it is dominated by Samsung Electronics, the country’s biggest company, and chipmaker SK Hynix, which like Samsung is collaborating with Nvidia on artificial intelligence.
The two companies account for more than half of the Kospi’s overall value.
It was last down 5.8pc, having fallen as much as 9pc. It dropped by 10pc on Tuesday, when a trading circuit breaker was also triggered.
OpenAI ‘may delay blockbuster listing’
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Stocks fell after reports ChatGPT maker OpenAI may delay plans for a blockbuster listing on Wall Street until next year.
Sam Altman, its chief executive, had pushed advisers to find a way for the company to achieve a $1 trillion valuation for a floatation in the third of fourth quarters of this year, according to the New York Times.
However, Asian markets plunged overnight after the suggestion Mr Altman is considering holding off on its public debut until next year following the sharp downturn in the share price of SpaceX.
Elon Musk’s rocket, satellite and AI company has seen its stock fall sharply after it floated in the largest public listing in history earlier this month, briefly making controversial entrepreneur the world’s first trillionnaire.
Global markets have also been volatile this month, with trading on South Korea’s tech-heavy Kospi suspended twice this week after sharp losses. The Nasdaq Composite on Wall Street has fallen 4.5pc so far this week.
FTSE 100 on track to fall
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The FTSE 100 is poised to slump at the open as Apple’s price hikes highlight the pitfalls of the boom in AI spending.
The UK’s flagship stock index has dropped 0.6pc in premarket trading after the US tech giant said it had been forced to pass on to customers the cost of higher chips, which have soared in value as a result of demand for AI infrastructure.
The Cac 40 in France was down 0.5pc in premarket trading, while the Dax in Germany fell 0.9pc.
Good morning
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Thanks for joining me. Stock have plunged in Asia overnight after Apple said the AI boom had forced it to raise prices. Here is what you need to know.
5 things to start your day
- Apple raises iPad and MacBook prices by up to £300 | Tech giant warns further increases are coming as memory chip demand from data centres squeezes supply
- Housing development attacked by Burnham ally heading for High Court | FTSE 100 developer launches judicial review of decision to block construction of 867 homes
- Britain paying 17 times more to import energy from Europe during heatwave | UK obtaining emergency supplies from Continent after surge in air conditioning use
- Americans ditch Scottish salmon and whisky in wake of Trump tariffs | Sales of British food and drink to the US plunge at start of year, new figures reveal
- How Ed Miliband united the City and unions against him | Energy Secretary’s obstinacy and failed leadership raise fears over Burnham’s choice of chancellor
What happened overnight
Asian shares plunged as Apple’s hefty price rises revealed the downside of booming chip demand.
Shares of Apple slid 6.1pc overnight after the tech giant announced price increases for iPads and MacBooks to counter the surging cost of memory and storage chips.
That wiped about $263bn off of its market value. Microsoft is raising prices for its Xbox gaming consoles by up to $150 worldwide.
South Korea’s Kospi tumbled 6.9pc, triggering a circuit breaker that halted trading for 20 minutes.
Japan’s Nikkei slumped 4.5pc and was headed for a weekly drop of 3pc. Chinese blue-chips fell 1.9pc and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index lost 1.6pc.
The price increases tempered investor enthusiasm about a blowout earnings report from chipmaker Micron this week, whose shares surged almost 16pc overnight to a record high.
Meanwhile, oil prices fell toward their lowest in fourth months, with Brent crude down 1.3pc to $74 a barrel, as Saudi Aramco resumed oil loading at its Ras Tanura terminal after a halt of almost four months.