Seoul led gains across most of Asia as tech firms rallied (Jung Yeon-je) · Jung Yeon-je/AFP/AFP Most equities rose Thursday as investors cheered a bumper US jobs report that eased concerns about the state of the world's top economy, even as they pared back their bets on Federal Reserve interest rate cuts. The gains were again led by Seoul's Kospi index, the world's best performer this year thanks ...
Seoul led gains across most of Asia as tech firms rallied (Jung Yeon-je) · Jung Yeon-je/AFP/AFP Most equities rose Thursday as investors cheered a bumper US jobs report that eased concerns about the state of the world's top economy, even as they pared back their bets on Federal Reserve interest rate cuts. The gains were again led by Seoul's Kospi index, the world's best performer this year thanks to a surge in chipmakers Samsung and SK hynix as traders turn to the region's AI plays. Asia's recent healthy run comes amid a turn from Wall Street titans caused by concerns about extended valuations of firms such as Microsoft and Meta. A diversification among tech plays has also started to play out as companies unveil new AI tools that threaten touch competition for some companies. Investors have enjoyed a broadly positive few days, which have provided some much-needed stability after last week's upheaval that saw assets from gold and silver to stocks and bitcoin taking a battering. They took heart from data Wednesday showing 130,000 US jobs were created last month, more than double what was forecast, while unemployment unexpectedly dipped. The reading soothed concerns about the economy that had been stoked by the previous day's report showing weak consumer activity. That appeared to offset the fact that the Fed would find it harder to justify cutting borrowing costs next month. "This was a solid report across headline job creation, unemployment, and wage growth, easing concerns over the health of the US labour market," wrote City Index's Fiona Cincotta. "Following the data, the markets have pushed back on expectations for the next rate cut by the Federal Reserve to July, compared to June previously." And National Australia Bank senior economist Taylor Nugent said: "One month’s data does not make a trend, but for a Fed that saw ‘some signs of stabilisation’ in January, this data will only further solidify that assessment. "There may have been some support from warmer-than...
In this podcast, Motley Fool co-founder and CEO Tom Gardner and Motley Fool data engineer Beegee Alop talk with Droneshield CEO Oleg Vornik about counter-drones, the civilian and military markets, and lessons on leadership. To catch full episodes of all The Motley Fool's free podcasts, check out our podcast center. When you're ready to invest, check out this top 10 list of stocks to buy. Will AI c...
In this podcast, Motley Fool co-founder and CEO Tom Gardner and Motley Fool data engineer Beegee Alop talk with Droneshield CEO Oleg Vornik about counter-drones, the civilian and military markets, and lessons on leadership. To catch full episodes of all The Motley Fool's free podcasts, check out our podcast center. When you're ready to invest, check out this top 10 list of stocks to buy. Will AI create the world's first trillionaire? Our team just released a report on the one little-known company, called an "Indispensable Monopoly" providing the critical technology Nvidia and Intel both need. Continue » A full transcript is below. Should you buy stock in DroneShield right now? Before you buy stock in DroneShield, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and DroneShield wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $443,353!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,155,789!* Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 920% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 196% for the S&P 500. Don't miss the latest top 10 list, available with Stock Advisor, and join an investing community built by individual investors for individual investors. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of February 11, 2026. This podcast was recorded on Feb. 01, 2026. Oleg Vornik: We get a lot of feedback from Ukrainians that in addition to saving their lives, it actually gives them a lot of that psychological confidence because you think about it, like for us, the buzzing annoying buzzing sound from a drone is just a bit of a nuisance. For them, it's full on trauma because you hear that thing like it's...
Never miss an episode. Follow The Bloomberg Australia Podcast today. Global markets have been on a rollercoaster, with billions wiped from two of the hottest trades of the past year: Big Tech and Bitcoin. At first glance they might seem unrelated – but both are deeply tied to the same force driving markets right now: the AI boom. As software stocks wobble, crypto swings wildly and tech giants ramp...
Never miss an episode. Follow The Bloomberg Australia Podcast today. Global markets have been on a rollercoaster, with billions wiped from two of the hottest trades of the past year: Big Tech and Bitcoin. At first glance they might seem unrelated – but both are deeply tied to the same force driving markets right now: the AI boom. As software stocks wobble, crypto swings wildly and tech giants ramp up spending on data centers, investors are being forced to reassess what comes next. On this episode of the Bloomberg Australia Podcast, Rebecca Jones speaks with cross-asset reporter Richard Henderson about what’s behind the volatility, whether the AI trade is cracking or simply cooling off, and why some investors remain surprisingly bullish. Read more: Bitcoin Briefly Drops Below $67,000 as Stock Divergence Rises Big Tech's Stranglehold on Profits Is Over: John Authers Listen and follow The Bloomberg Australia Podcast on Apple , Spotify , on YouTube , or wherever you get your podcasts. Terminal clients: Run {NSUB AUPOD } on your desktop to subscribe. And for a daily wrap of the business, finance and economic stories that matter to Australians, from Bloomberg's reporters around the globe, sign up to our free Australia Briefing newsletter. Here is a lightly edited transcript of the conversation: Rebecca Jones: Global markets have been on a bit of a rollercoaster ride of late that's seen billions wiped from two of our most talked about trades. Yep. I'm talking about big American tech giants and Bitcoin. At first glance, these two may not appear to be linked, but today I've got Melbourne Cross Asset Reporter, Richard Henderson here to explain to me why they are in fact all part of the same broader story and, how to look at what may be coming right around the corner. Rich, we've got a lot to talk about. Welcome back to the podcast. Richard Henderson: Thank you very much. Jones: So let's step through this one by one and start with crypto. So Bitcoin has halved from its peak er...
Chinese tech giant Baidu launched a Wikipedia challenger this week, banking on artificial intelligence to bridge information gaps for local and worldwide audiences in a move analysts said was aimed at seizing global opportunities. BaiduWiki, a Wikipedia-style service available in English, Spanish, French, Russian and Japanese, quietly went live on Monday, according to records from the Wayback Mach...
Chinese tech giant Baidu launched a Wikipedia challenger this week, banking on artificial intelligence to bridge information gaps for local and worldwide audiences in a move analysts said was aimed at seizing global opportunities. BaiduWiki, a Wikipedia-style service available in English, Spanish, French, Russian and Japanese, quietly went live on Monday, according to records from the Wayback Machine, a digital archive platform. A now deleted post on Baidu’s official account on social-media site X described BaiduWiki as an international version of the Baidu Baike online encyclopaedia and said it currently hosted 1 million entries across the languages, which had been translated with the help of multiple AI agents. Advertisement Baidu launched Baidu Baike in 2008, building it into one of the largest such services, with more than 30 million entries as of January. On Wednesday, the company also introduced a new “global search” feature for its Ernie Assistant, giving the chatbot’s more than 200 million monthly active users immediate access to information including global destinations and scenic spots, Baidu said in a statement. Advertisement Pulling in overseas information for local users while doing the opposite for a global audience marks a strategic move to use AI and Ernie Assistant to bridge global information gaps, said Zhang Yi, founder and chief analyst at internet market consultancy iiMedia.
Copper extended gains, buoyed by a tighter supply outlook and a weakening dollar, even as Chinese buying waned ahead of the Lunar New Year break. Investors continue to bet on rising demand from global manufacturing, the green transition and artificial intelligence, at a time when mine supplies are constrained by falling grades. Speculative funds, including those in China, have helped supercharge t...
Copper extended gains, buoyed by a tighter supply outlook and a weakening dollar, even as Chinese buying waned ahead of the Lunar New Year break. Investors continue to bet on rising demand from global manufacturing, the green transition and artificial intelligence, at a time when mine supplies are constrained by falling grades. Speculative funds, including those in China, have helped supercharge the rally in recent months. A weaker dollar , making commodities cheaper in other currencies, has supported gains. Although Chinese buying has tailed off ahead of next week’s holiday, overseas risk appetite remains, said Wu Kunjin, head of base metals research at Minmetals Futures Co. Refined copper spot trades in China dropped to 13,400 tons on Wednesday, from a peak of over 38,000 tons on Feb. 2, according to consultancy Mysteel Global , citing a survey of plants. Open interest and trading volumes on the Shanghai Futures Exchange have dropped to the lowest since November. Read more: US Aluminum User Seeks Purchase That Threatens to Stress Market Copper rose 0.5% to $13,166.50 a ton on the London Metal Exchange as of 10:43 a.m. in Shanghai. Nickel increased 0.6%, extending gains to a fifth session, after moves to cut output at the world’s biggest mine in Indonesia. Iron ore was 0.3% higher at $100.25 a ton in Singapore.