LONDON/SINGAPORE, June 25 (Reuters) - Stocks surged on Thursday after strong earnings and forecasts from chipmakers Micron and Qualcomm helped reignite the AI rally, while the dollar sat around a one-year high against peers despite a fall in oil and Treasury yields.
Tech-heavy Asian markets rose sharply after Micron (MU.O), said its customers had committed $22 billion for its memory chips, while Qualcomm (QCOM.O), anticipates $15 billion in sales from its data centre business by 2029,
Micron shares rose 17% in premarket trading and Qualcomm 12%.
Japan's Nikkei (.N225), jumped 4.6%, South Korea's KOSPI (.KS11), gained 5.4%, while futures on the U.S. tech-heavy Nasdaq 100, which includes both Micron and Qualcomm, gained 2.1%.
Investor concern that valuations for AI-related companies have become stretched following years of gains has weighed on markets in recent days, leading to volatile sessions — the Nasdaq 100 fell 3.3% on Tuesday.
"Earnings trump everything," said analysts at Barclays in a Thursday note. "Markets are not cheap. Investors expect continued double-digit earnings growth into 2027, and the margin for disappointment has narrowed."
Europe has fewer tech stocks, and the broad STOXX 600 (.STOXX), was up 0.7%, though the tech subindex gained 2.2%. (.SX8P)
S&P 500 futures rose 0.65%.
OIL BACK TO PRE-WAR LEVELS AS TANKERS EXIT HORMUZ
The other big story in global markets was oil, and prices extended their decline on Thursday as stranded tankers exited the Strait of Hormuz following an initial accord to end the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, easing supply concerns.
Illustration picture of semiconductor chips on a circuit board
Brent crude futures dropped 0.7% to $73.2 a barrel, a fall of 9% this week to erase all the gains from the war.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate fell 0.6% to $69.76 a barrel.
Easing oil prices may help reduce some inflation pressure, which has sent government bonds rallying in both the U.S. and Europe.
Germany's 10-year yield was down 1 bp at 2.86% but has fallen 12 bps this week as traders wonder whether the European Central Bank will raise rates again this year.
The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield was flat on Thursday, at 4.40%, having dropped 7 bps the previous day.
It dipped marginally after U.S. data showed the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) price index rose 0.4% in May, compared with a 0.5% increase expected by economists polled by Reuters.
However, with the yearly figure breaking above 4% for the first time in three years, the data still supports bets on a Federal Reserve rate hike this year, which has caused U.S. yields to fall less than those elsewhere and boosted the dollar.
The euro was last at $1.1339, a whisker above Wednesday's 13-month low, while the Japanese yen is near its lowest in 40 years on the dollar on the brink of more intervention from Tokyo after the last bout around May failed to stem the fragile currency's decline.
The yen was last at 161.87 per U.S. dollar, not far from the two-year low it hit last week. A break below 161.96 would take yen to its lowest level since 1986.
The strengthening dollar has weighed on gold, which slid below $4,000 an ounce for the first time in 2026. Spot gold last fetched $3,980 per ounce, hovering near its lowest since November.
Reporting by Ankur Banerjee in Singapore; Editing by Kate Mayberry, Shri Navaratnam and Elaine Hardcastle
