Asian stocks fell amid fears of a tech bubble and US jobs data.

Asian stock markets continued to fall on the morning of December 16th, following the trend on Wall Street, as investors awaited key US employment and inflation data. Market sentiment was also affected by concerns about the potential existence of a tech bubble.

Stock market index board in Hong Kong, China. Photo: THX/VNA

At approximately 9:30 AM (Vietnam time), key indices such as the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo fell 1.3% to 49,523.56 points, the Hang Seng in Hong Kong fell 1.7% to 25,205.57 points, and the Shanghai Composite in Shanghai dropped 1.1% to 3,825 points. Stock markets in Seoul and Taipei declined by more than 1%, while Sydney, Singapore, and Jakarta also saw losses.

Following strong gains in technology stocks, traders are becoming more cautious as they consider the massive influx of capital into artificial intelligence (AI) and signals that the Federal Reserve may pause interest rate cuts.

All attention is focused on the US release of November 2025 employment data and supplemental figures for October 2025 on December 16th, followed by the consumer price index (CPI) on December 18th.

Fed officials will scrutinize these figures to guide their borrowing cost adjustment plans as they debate whether to continue lowering interest rates in January 2026. Matt Weller, head of market research at City Index, said the Fed nearly missed the October 2025 jobs report due to a lack of survey data and will carefully consider the November 2025 figures when guiding monetary policy through early 2026. He also noted that traders are currently only factoring in a 25% probability of further rate cuts in January 2026, so market reaction may be limited unless the labor market deteriorates significantly.

Due to the limited possibility of interest rate cuts, stock traders have temporarily shifted to a selling position.

Concerns about the technology sector continue to weigh on market sentiment, as warnings of an AI bubble accompany disappointing earnings results last week from Oracle and Broadcom. Hundreds of billions of dollars invested in AI may take time to yield returns, and even if they do, they will put pressure on the entire market.

Pepperstone analyst Michael Brown said that concerns about AI have resurfaced in recent sessions, partly due to Broadcom's failure to provide specific guidance for the upcoming quarter, and partly due to reports that Oracle's data center construction may be delayed. He also noted that concerns about debt financing, particularly from Oracle, are likely to persist but are unlikely to cause market panic.

In Vietnam, at 11:30 AM, the VN-Index fell 7.90 points (0.48%) to 1,638.11 points, while the HNX-Index rose 0.08 points (0.03%) to 249.45 points.

Source: https://baotintuc.vn/thi-truong-tien-te/chung-khoan-chau-a-giam-diem-do-lo-ngai-bong-bong-cong-nghe-va-du-lieu-viec-lam-my-20251216123028631.htm