Good evening. Yesterday, chip stocks were bleeding out from Tokyo to New York over doubts about who's actually funding the AI boom. Tonight, bond yields eased, and that was enough to turn the mood around from Seoul to Sydney

Thursday was ugly before it wasn't. Japan's Nikkei 225 fell as much as 4.9% as chip and AI stocks extended an eight-session losing streak in the sector, hit by hotter-than-expected US producer price data and fresh doubts about CoreWeave, the AI cloud provider whose bonds are trading at distressed yields above 15% on questions about its debt-funded data-centre build, BBN Times and Investing.com report. Wall Street followed the slide, then reversed it. The Nasdaq Composite dropped as much as 1.44% intraday before closing up 0.08% at 26,713.02, BBN Times reports, as the 10-year Treasury yield eased from above 5.3% to around 5.05%, taking the pressure off growth stocks.

The S&P 500 rose 0.33% to 7,744.06, ending a three-day losing streak, and the Dow jumped about 1.1% to a touch above 52,180, BBN Times and Saxo Bank report (the two put the exact closing figure a few points apart). Taiwan Semiconductor's stronger-than-expected results helped the mood; Oracle rose 3.2% and Microsoft 1.1%, while Nvidia slipped 1.7% and CoreWeave, Nebius and IREN stayed under pressure.

That recovery crossed the Pacific overnight. South Korea's Kospi, which fell as much as 6.5% on Thursday, jumped 4.11% to 5,782.62 on Friday, and Japan's Nikkei rallied 1.80% to 65,584.61. The ASX 200 joined in, closing up 1.0% at 8,806.7, its best session in a fortnight and enough to push the index back above its 200-day moving average, Market Index reports.

Technology led, up 5.6% as the sector clawed back Thursday's losses, and materials rose 3.2%. Financials and consumer staples were the only sectors to finish lower, each down about half a per cent. New Zealand went the other way: the NZX 50 was down about 0.6% in afternoon trade, Interest.co.nz reported, as energy and property stocks weighed. The Australian dollar firmed 0.35% to US$0.6945.

Source: BBN Times, 15 Oct 2026 → · Source: Investing.com, 15 Oct 2026 → · Source: Saxo Bank, 16 Oct 2026 → · Source: Market Index, 16 Oct 2026 → · Source: Interest.co.nz, 16 Oct 2026 →

WiseTech surges as ASIC clears founder in insider trading probe. WiseTech Global shares jumped as much as 9% to close at $37.61 on Friday, Market Index reports, after the corporate regulator issued no-action letters closing its roughly two-year investigation into founder Richard White's share trading and the company's governance, with no enforcement action taken, Investing.com reports. One investigation into another individual who isn't a WiseTech employee is still open. White stepped down as executive chair in July amid the scrutiny, which he has denied.

Source: Market Index, 16 Oct 2026 → · Source: Investing.com, 16 Oct 2026 →

Oil holds above $105 as Hormuz attacks continue. Brent crude held above US$105 a barrel on Friday, on track for a second straight weekly gain, Market Index reports, after a container ship sank near the Strait of Hormuz this week in the latest of a string of Iranian attacks on shipping through the waterway, CNBC reports. The strait carries roughly a fifth of the world's oil; a June ceasefire meant to guarantee safe passage has stalled, and markets are pricing in a lasting hit to reliable traffic rather than reacting to any single strike.

Source: Market Index, 16 Oct 2026 → · Source: CNBC, 14 Oct 2026 →

Gold climbs again, bitcoin sits out the rally. Spot gold rose 1.5% on Thursday to around US$4,170 an ounce and Australia's All Ords Gold index added a further 3.99% on Friday, Market Index reports; Saxo Bank says gold needs to clear resistance near US$4,235 to confirm it has broken the downtrend running since August. Bitcoin didn't join the broader market's relief rally: it's trading near US$82,000, little changed on the day and still about 35% below its October 2025 high of US$126,210, while spot bitcoin ETFs sit on roughly US$386 million of net outflows so far this month, Saxo Bank reports.

Source: Market Index, 16 Oct 2026 → · Source: Saxo Bank, 16 Oct 2026 →

Notice how fast the story flipped. Yesterday, the AI trade appeared to be on the verge of becoming a debt crisis. Today it's being called a buying opportunity, and nothing about CoreWeave's balance sheet changed in between. What changed was the 10-year Treasury yield, down roughly a quarter of a percentage point, which took the pressure off every growth stock priced on future cash flow.

That's a real reason for Wall Street to rally. It's a different reason than the one getting repeated at the open and the close. WiseTech's jump is the cleaner story: a regulator closed a file, and two years of governance doubt vanished from the share price in an afternoon, even though the company didn't do anything differently today than it did yesterday.

Bitcoin is the honest one tonight. It's the only asset in this issue not joining the rally. Nearly $400 million has left bitcoin ETFs this month, and the price is still more than a third below last October's peak. If the AI-financing scare is really over, somebody should tell the crypto traders.