Rebound in tech shares pushes world markets higher, while oil prices
fall
[June 25, 2026] By
ELAINE KURTENBACH
BANGKOK (AP) — World shares were mostly higher Thursday, led by
tech-driven gains in Japan and South Korea as major computer chipmakers’
stocks surged following upbeat earnings reports from U.S. giants like
Qualcomm and Micron Technology.
Oil prices slipped closer to where they were before the war with Iran
began.
Qualcomm’s share price surged nearly 7% in afterhours trading after the
company announced it had raised its forecast for revenue this year to
$40 billion from $22 billion. It also announced a new computer chip for
data centers called Dragonfly C1000 CPU that Meta plans to use.
Micron Technology's shares jumped 18.5% in afterhours trading after it
upgraded its forecast and exceeded analysts' estimates.
The future for the S&P 500 gained 0.8%, while that for the Dow Jones
Industrial Average edged 0.1% higher.
Germany's DAX advanced 0.5% to 24,859.99. The CAC 40 in Paris was up
0.2% to 8,398.21 and Britain's FTSE 100 added 0.1% to 10,473.69.
In Asian trading, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index surged 4.6% to a record close
of 72,366.34 as traders snapped up shares in technology companies.
Chipmaker Tokyo Electron's shares gained 7.8%, while chip testing
equipment maker Advantest's shares soared 15%.
South Korea's benchmark, the Kospi, hit a new record, surging 5.4% to
8,930.30 after briefly topping 9,000. Samsung Electronics' shares gained
5.3% and SK Hynix leaped 13%.
Elsewhere in Asia, gains were more modest.
Taiwan's Taiex climbed 0.5% and the Sensex in India was up 0.7%.
The Shanghai Composite index picked up 0.2% to 4,120.28, while Hong
Kong's Hang Seng dropped 1.4% to 23,090.27.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 shed 0.7% to 8,748.70.
On Wednesday, stocks wavered to a mixed close on Wall Street as losses
for several tech giants including Microsoft weighed on the market. The
S&P 500 fell 0.1% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which is less
weighted with tech stocks, rose 10.4%.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite fell 0.4%.
Microsoft lost 2.3% and Oracle slumped 4.6%.
Many large tech companies have been behind Wall Street’s record-setting
run throughout the year, but analysts have warned their valuations may
have become stretched.
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People walk past a monitor showing Japan's Nikkei 225 index at a
securities firm in Tokyo, Tuesday, June 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Hiro
Komae)
 Google’s parent company Alphabet
slipped 0.2%. The company is replacing Verizon in the Dow on Monday.
Its inclusion in the S&P 500 means more to investors, however,
because 401(k) accounts are much more likely to include an S&P 500
index fund than anything tied to the Dow.
Alphabet will become the fifth Magnificent 7 tech company to join
the Dow. The others are Apple, Amazon, Microsoft and Nvidia.
Oil companies had some of the biggest losses as prices fell while
the U.S. and Iran negotiate a possible end to their war. Exxon Mobil
fell 2% and Chevron lost 2.6%. Brent crude, the international
standard, fell 3.8% to $73.87 a barrel. It has been trading below
$80 in recent days but is still above the roughly $70 per barrel it
was trading at in late February before the war began.
U.S. crude prices fell 3.9% to $70.34 a barrel.
Early Thursday, Brent was down 0.8% at $73.32 a barrel, while U.S.
benchmark crude lost 0.5% to $69.88 a barrel.
Some of the bigger winners on Wall Street included homebuilders
following approval of legislation beneficial to the industry. KB
Home surged 16.7% and D.R. Horton jumped 6.7%.
The Federal Reserve will get an update on inflation later Thursday,
when its preferred measure for prices is released. Economists expect
the Personal Consumption Expenditures price index, or PCE, to show
that prices rose 4.1% in May. That would be the highest level in
three years.
Inflation has been rising as tariffs raise costs for many goods. It
worsened as the war pushed energy and shipping prices higher and
that impact is expected to linger even as oil and gasoline prices
fall.
In other dealings early Thursday, the U.S. dollar rose to 161.81
Japanese yen from 161.79 yen. The euro rose to $1.1362 from $1.1359.
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