(Updates after European markets open)
* Selloff comes after big recent gains for tech stocks
* Wall Street futures skid, yen near 40-year lows
* Oil falls towards four-month lows
By Iain Withers and Stella Qiu
LONDON/SYDNEY, June 26 (Reuters) - Global stocks slipped on
Friday after Apple ( AAPL ) price hikes fuelled wider concerns
over the inflationary impact of spending by tech giants, while
oil prices dropped towards their lowest in four months despite
difficulties reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
Apple ( AAPL ) fell 6% on Thursday after it said it could no longer
shield customers from soaring memory and storage chip costs,
while a media report that OpenAI was considering delaying its
IPO until next year also dampened the stock market mood.
Oil futures fell more than 3% and were heading for steep weekly
losses as more stranded tankers exited the Strait of Hormuz,
even though a cargo vessel was hit near Oman on Thursday. Saudi
Aramco resumed loadings on Friday at its Ras Tanura terminal in
the Gulf after a near four-month halt in a further likely boost
to supply.
European stocks were down 0.8%, while Wall Street
futures pointed to falls of 0.5% to 1.1%.
Steep declines in Asia were led by tech stocks, with MSCI's
index of Asian stocks outside Japan down 3%.
South Korea's KOSPI was down as much as 9% at one point,
triggering a circuit breaker.
"There's a bit of concern in the market about the spenders,
the hyperscalers... and what's going to happen to the return on
invested capital from all this expenditure," said Nutshell Asset
Management CIO Mark Ellis, adding that while the short-term
impact was inflationary, he believed prices should come down in
the long run due to improved efficiencies.
Apple's ( AAPL ) price increases tempered investor enthusiasm about a
blowout earnings report from chipmaker Micron this week.
Analysts also said month-end and quarter-end rebalancing
flows might have contributed to choppy prices in big tech
stocks, which have outperformed for much of the second quarter.
YEN WEAK
The yen teetered near its weakest level against
the dollar in 40 years at 161.59, beyond the 160 level that many
see as a line in the sand for Japanese authorities.
It found little relief even as a U.S. inflation reading met
forecasts and traders trimmed bets for a Federal Reserve rate
hike in September.
Separate data also showed the U.S. economy grew faster than
previously estimated in the first quarter thanks to a downward
revision to imports, but consumer spending almost stalled,
casting doubt on growth momentum in the second quarter.
The dollar index, which measures its strength against
a basket of six major peers, slipped 0.3% to 101.2, but remained
not far from its strongest level since May 2025.
Treasury yields dropped on Friday, with 2-year yields
down to 4.0901% to mark a fourth day of declines,
while 10-year yields were last at 4.6951%.
In precious metals, gold was last up 0.2% on the day to
$4,034.