Asian stocks rally while global markets show mixed signals

Markets around the world went two separate ways Tuesday as S&P 500 futures barely moved while Asian indexes shot higher.

According to CNBC, S&P 500 futures dipped just 0.02% early in the day, with Dow Jones futures flat and Nasdaq 100 futures slipping 0.03%.

This quiet open followed a wild Monday where all three major U.S. indexes, including the S&P 500, closed at new all-time highs after three straight winning sessions.

The rally kicked in late Monday after Nvidia shares surged nearly 4%. The company announced it would be putting $100 billion into OpenAI to build out new data centers. That one line sent tech stocks flying, pushing the S&P 500 and its cousins to more intraday records.

Chip stocks jump in Europe but ASMI slashes guidance

European markets followed the tech hype early Tuesday. The Stoxx 600 went up 0.3% by mid-morning in London, and most sectors were in the green. Chip names like Be Semiconductor rose 0.8%. Infineon jumped 1.8%. STMicro added 2.1%. All of them got a boost from the Nvidia-OpenAI move.

But not every tech stock climbed. ASMI and ASML both took hits. ASMI dropped 2.6% after cutting its forecast for the rest of 2025. ASML slid 1.4% in the same breath. Traders didn’t want anything to do with lowered chip equipment sales.

In the bond market, U.S. Treasury yields edged lower ahead of Federal Reserve comments expected later in the day. Fed Chair Jerome Powell is set to speak, and markets are watching closely. The 10-year yield dropped a basis point to 4.133%. The 2-year held at 3.599%. The 30-year slipped to 4.75%.

Over in Asia, tech optimism fueled strong gains. Taiwan’s Taiex index jumped 1.42%, closing at 26,247.37, a new record. Australia’s ASX/S&P 200 climbed 0.4% to 8,845.9. South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.51% to 3,486.19, though the Kosdaq lost 0.25%, ending at 872.21.

Trump hits India’s tech visas as gold reaches new highs

Hong Kong saw red. The Hang Seng dropped 0.99% as Super Typhoon Ragasa approached. The Hong Kong Observatory warned the storm would slam the Pearl River Estuary by Wednesday morning. In mainland China, the CSI 300 barely moved, finishing flat at 4,519.78. Japan’s markets stayed shut for a national holiday.

Tech stocks in India are still shaky after a hit on Monday. President Donald Trump announced a $100,000 fee for each new H-1B visa. Those visas go to high-skilled workers, most of them from India. In 2024, about 400,000 were issued, and 71% went to Indian nationals.

Gold didn’t slow down. Spot gold rose 0.2% to $3,753.25 an ounce as of 6:04 a.m. GMT, hitting $3,759.02 earlier in the session — another record. U.S. gold futures for December moved up 0.3% to $3,787.40. The weaker dollar helped. The U.S. dollar index extended losses, making gold cheaper for non-dollar buyers.

In Europe, German 10-year bond yields erased earlier losses. They sat unchanged at 2.75% after fresh data showed business activity speeding up in September. Sweden’s crown stood still at 9.34 per dollar after the central bank cut interest rates to 1.75%. It said rates will stay where they are for a while. The euro was steady at $1.179, bouncing off a Monday low of $1.1726. The dollar slipped to 147.72 yen after reaching 148.37 earlier.

Crude prices couldn’t hold ground. Brent dropped 0.4% to $66.27 a barrel. U.S. crude slipped 0.3% to $62.02. Traders ignored the tension in the Middle East and Russia. Too much oil on the table was a bigger worry than geopolitics.

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