Tech Selloff Widens as Oil Surges on US-Iran Tensions
Global markets face a volatile Friday as tech shares extend losses and crude oil jumps 2.6% amid escalating US-Iran conflict.
A broad and deepening selloff in technology stocks defined the final trading session of the week, with the damage radiating far beyond the AI and semiconductor sectors that initially bore the brunt. S&P 500 futures slid 0.8% while Nasdaq futures dropped 1.5% in pre-market trade, signaling that large-cap tech broadly is now caught in the downdraft — a sign that the selloff's breadth is widening rather than narrowing.
The rot began Thursday when tech shares cratered sharply, triggering a cascade across Asian markets overnight. Japan's Nikkei closed down 4% and South Korea's KOSPI fell more than 6% — steep declines that underscore how deeply interconnected global equity markets have become around the technology theme. European indices fared comparatively better, though that relative resilience owes more to their lighter exposure to tech than to any genuine investor confidence.
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Adding a geopolitical dimension to the market turbulence, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps reiterated its threat to block oil and gas traffic through the Strait of Hormuz for as long as US military strikes continue. The warning had immediate market consequences: WTI crude climbed 2.6% to $81.00, clearing a psychologically significant threshold that traders had been watching all week. Energy markets are now functioning as a barometer of conflict escalation in a way that directly complicates the inflation outlook for central banks.
Elsewhere, the flight-to-safety impulse was visible but restrained. The Swiss franc led currency gains, while the US dollar traded in mixed fashion as 10-year Treasury yields dipped roughly 4 basis points to 4.525%. Gold edged up 0.6% to $3,992, finding modest support from the risk-off mood, though silver slipped 0.2%, reflecting the uneven appetite for safe havens. Bitcoin fell 1.4% to $63,226, tracking the broader risk-asset retreat.
With eurozone June CPI confirming a slight easing and the Bank of Japan expected to hold rates steady at its July meeting, the macro backdrop remains complex — central banks in a holding pattern while markets grapple with a tech correction and an oil shock simultaneously. Continue reading at Forexlive.
