Most Asian stocks climbed Friday following a Wall Street rally, though post-earnings slumps in Amazon.com Inc. and Apple Inc. in late trading dented some of the optimism and left U.S. equity futures in the red.

An Asia-Pacific share gauge edged up, helped by South Korea, while China and Hong Kong fluctuated. Contracts on the S&P 500 and technology-heavy Nasdaq 100 retreated, with the latter shedding 1%. Japan is closed for a holiday.

Amazon projected sluggish sales growth and Apple flagged supply constraints. E-commerce giant Amazon shed 9% in extended trading and Apple lost 2%. That clouded the S&P 500’s best climb since early March in regular hours.

Volatility in the currency markets moderated compared with the upheavals of a day earlier. The yen pared a tumble while staying near 20-year lows. The dollar was set for its best week since 2021 amid investor caution and as the Federal Reserve readies sharp interest-rate hikes to slow inflation.

Oil was near $105 a barrel. Traders are evaluating the prospect of a European Union ban on Russian crude in retaliation for the invasion of Ukraine.

Corporate earnings are just the latest variable to whipsaw markets. There are concerns that tightening U.S. monetary policy, the war in Ukraine and China’s Covid outbreak all herald more challenges for investors.

“The Fed’s record on soft landings is not that strong,” Carol Schleif, deputy chief investment officer at BMO Family Office LLC, said on Bloomberg Television. “Markets are watching very, very carefully to see if we can thread that needle.”

The latest U.S. data showed that the world’s largest economy unexpectedly shrank for the first time since 2020. That reflected an import surge tied to solid consumer demand, suggesting growth will return imminently.

US Outlook

The figures underscore the debate about how much scope the U.S. central bank has to tighten policy before the economy cracks. Markets continue to project a half-point Fed rate hike next week.

“A year from now, 10-year yields are most likely going to be lower than where we are today,” Jimmy Chang, chief investment officer at Rockefeller Financial LLC, said on Bloomberg Television, referring to Treasuries. “I do believe at some point the economy starts to weaken, the Fed will be less hawkish, perhaps even go into a pause mode by, say, early next year.”

Treasuries were steady Thursday, leaving the 10-year U.S. yield at 2.82%. Treasury futures edged up. There’s no cash trading due to the Japan holiday.

Elsewhere, Elon Musk sold about $4 billion worth of Tesla Inc. shares after announcing a blockbuster $44 billion deal to buy Twitter Inc. Musk tweeted that he has “no further Tesla sales planned after today.”

Stocks

  • S&P 500 futures fell 0.4% as of 11:27 a.m. in Tokyo. The S&P 500 rose 2.5%
  • Nasdaq 100 futures dropped 1.1%. The Nasdaq 100 rose 3.5%
  • Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index added 0.7%
  • South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.8%
  • Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 0.7%
  • China’s Shanghai Composite index rose 0.1%
  • Euro Stoxx 50 futures climbed 1%

Currencies

  • The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index dipped 0.1%
  • The euro was at $1.0514, up 0.1%
  • The Japanese yen was at 130.78 per dollar, up 0.1%
  • The offshore yuan was at 6.6853 per dollar

Bonds

  • The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined one basis point to 2.82% Thursday
  • Australia’s 10-year bond yield rose eight basis points to 3.16%

Commodities

  • West Texas Intermediate crude was at $104.70 a barrel, down 0.6%
  • Gold was at $1,901.15 an ounce, up 0.4%