World shares are mostly higher in a week dominated by AI news
[February 27, 2026] By
ELAINE KURTENBACH
BANGKOK (AP) — World shares were mostly higher on Friday after the worst
day for Nvidia’s stock since last spring dragged U.S. stocks lower.
U.S. futures fell as investors focused on comments by Block CEO Jack
Dorsey on his company’s decision to lay off 40% of its workforce because
of labor-saving artificial intelligence.
The future for the S&P 500 edged 0.1% lower while that for the Dow Jones
Industrial Average fell 0.3%.
Germany's DAX rose 0.3% to 25,373.74, while the CAC 40 picked up less
than 0.1% to 8,625.54. Britain's FTSE 100 gained 0.5% to 10,904.24.
In Asian trading, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 edged 0.2% higher to 58,850.27.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng jumped 1% to 26,630.54, while the Shanghai
Composite index advanced 0.4% to 4,162.88.
South Korea's Kospi lost 1% to 6,244.13 as traders sold to lock in
profits from recent gains.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 closed 0.3% higher at 9,198.60, while India's
Sensex lost 0.8%.
On Thursday, the S&P 500 shed 0.5% and the Dow industrials added less
than 0.1%. The Nasdaq composite sank 1.2%. to 22,878.38.
U.S. inflation data is due out later Friday. A report showed that the
number of U.S. workers applying for unemployment benefits ticked up last
week, but not by any more than economists expected. It also remains
relatively low compared with history.
Nvidia, whose chips are helping to power the AI boom, reported another
stellar quarter of profit growth that breezed past analysts’
expectations. Its forecast for revenue in the current quarter again
topped Wall Street estimates. But such blowout performances have become
so typical for Nvidia that they’re losing their oomph. Its stock sank
5.5% for its worst loss since April.
Shares in Block, formerly known as Square, gained 5% on Thursday before
it reported better than expected earnings, and then shot up more than
20% after the markets closed following Dorsey's comments on laying off
about 4,000 of its 10,000 employees.
“We believe Block will be signficantly more valuable as a smaller,
faster, intelligence-native company. Everything we do from here is in
service of that,” Dorsey wrote in a letter to shareholders.
Dorsey “just did what most CEOs have only whispered about in
boardrooms,” Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management wrote in a
commentary.
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Currency traders watch monitors near a screen showing the Korea
Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), top center, and the foreign
exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won, top center
left, at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank
headquarters, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Feb. 27, 2026. (AP
Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
 “For years we've debated whether AI
would dent jobs at the margin. Now we have a public case study where
the CEO explicitly says intelligence tools have changed what it
means to build and run a company,” he said.
Elsewhere on Wall Street, shares in streaming giant Netflix jumped
7.9% in pre-market trading after it walked away from its bid to buy
Warner Bros. Discovery’s studio and streaming business. That put
Skydance-owned Paramount in a position to take over its Hollywood
rival.
Netflix said the price required to buy Warner after its board
announced that Paramount's offer was superior would make it a deal
that is “no longer financially attractive.”
On Thursday, Warner Bros. shares edged down 0.3% after the
entertainment giant reported a $252 million loss for the fourth
quarter.
In other dealings early Friday, U.S. benchmark crude oil gained 89
cents to $66.10 per barrel. Crude prices have been swinging while
the United States and Iran held indirect talks about Iran’s nuclear
program. A barrel of U.S. crude briefly fell as low as $63.60 on
Thursday before it bounced back.
The two sides walked away from the latest talks without a deal. That
left the danger of another Mideast war on the table as the U.S. has
gathered a massive fleet of aircraft and warships in the region.
A peaceful solution would lessen the threat of war, which could
disrupt the global flow of oil and drive prices higher.
Brent crude, the international standard, gained 79 cents early
Friday to $71.63 per barrel.
The U.S. dollar rose to 156.18 Japanese yen from 156.13 yen. The
euro rose to $1.1805 from $1.1796.
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