Stock futures showed mixed signals early Friday following a steep sell-off in artificial intelligence stocks that pushed the Nasdaq into correction territory. While Nasdaq-100 futures edged up 1%, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures fell by 467 points, or 0.91%, and S&P 500 futures remained mostly flat. The significant tech-driven losses stemmed from concerns around AI spending and political developments from the recent U.S. midterm elections, which some investors fear might slow data center construction, a critical component of AI infrastructure.

The sell-off cascaded through global markets, sharply impacting Asia-Pacific equities. South Korea’s Kospi index plummeted over 6% and triggered circuit breakers with an early trading drop exceeding 8%. Japan’s Nikkei 225 sank 5.9% and officially entered bear market territory, having fallen more than 20% from its June peak. Other markets in the region also experienced declines, including Hong Kong’s Hang Seng, mainland China’s CSI 300, and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200, as investors digested the fallout from the Wall Street turmoil and its implications for technology sectors.

In the U.S., the Nasdaq Composite dropped 5.5% on Thursday, closing more than 10% below its recent high. The sell-off wiped more than $1 trillion in market capitalization from the “Magnificent Seven” megacap tech stocks, with Nvidia suffering the largest decline of $440 billion, and turning negative for 2026. Other prominent companies such as Tesla, Meta, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, and Apple all endured marked share price declines, emphasizing investor unease over the sustainability of the AI growth narrative amid the new political environment.

Looking ahead, traders remain cautious as they await October’s key payroll report due Friday, with expectations for 59,000 new jobs added and unemployment steady at 4.2%. The jobs data will be closely watched for signals on economic health and potential Federal Reserve moves on interest rates. Despite the market volatility, some experts view the current pullback as a buying opportunity, especially in memory chip stocks, citing capacity constraints and the ongoing demand for AI-related technologies, assuming the economy stays out of recession.