AI Policy Concerns Send Nasdaq Futures Tumbling; Asian Stocks Also Waver [U.S. Midterm Elections]

[Financial News] Concerns about tighter regulation of the artificial intelligence (AI) sector grew as the Democratic Party made gains in the U.S. midterm elections, sending U.S. Nasdaq 100 futures down around 2% at one point on the 4th and pushing Asian stocks to their lowest level in more than six months.
According to foreign media reports, Nasdaq 100 December futures were down 2.4% from the previous trading day as of 12:06 p.m., then pared their losses to 1.3%, standing at 27,945.75 around 2 p.m.
MarketWatch reported that the futures had at one point fallen to their lowest level since late July.
At the same time, Nasdaq 100 futures fell more sharply than S&P 500 futures (-0.8%) and Dow futures (-0.5%), highlighting weakness in technology stocks.
Dillin Wu, a strategist at online brokerage Pepperstone Group, said, “AI regulation, chip export restrictions and data center energy policies could all be affected by the election results.”
Asian stock markets, with their heavy weighting in technology stocks, were also hit hard.
The MSCI Asia-Pacific Index fell to 250.00 at one point during the session, down 2.3% from the previous day’s close.
That was its lowest level since mid-April, and more than 10% below its June 22 close of 285.88.
The KOSPI rose 3.2% at one point, then plunged 3.8% around 1 p.m. It pared its losses and stood at 5,575.52, down 1.3%, as of 2:07 p.m.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 also plunged as much as 4.8% during the session, then stood at 60,792.72, down 3.6%, around 2 p.m.
The Nikkei 225 fell below its 200-day moving average for the first time since June last year, while memory chipmaker Kioxia plunged more than 13%.
Taiwan’s Capitalization Weighted Stock Index (TAIEX) was also down 1.4%, while TSMC fell 1.5%.
Losses were relatively steep in South Korea, Japan and Taiwan, where semiconductor- and AI-related stocks make up a large share of the market, while China’s Shanghai Composite Index and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index were little changed. 


[email protected] Lee Seok-woo, International Affairs Correspondent Reporter