Gauges in Japan and South Korea retreated, sending the broader MSCI Asia Pacific Index down 0.4%. The moves came after the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 Index fell 1.6%, and a gauge of US chip stocks tumbled over 5%.

South Korea’s Kospi Index, the world’s best-performing major benchmark this year, dropped 0.8%, with SK Hynix Inc among the losers.

Elsewhere, Treasuries ended the holiday-shortened week with lower short-term yields after June employment data and lower oil prices challenged expectations for Federal Reserve rate hikes this year. There will be no cash trading in Treasuries on Friday due to a US holiday. The dollar edged higher in early Asian trading, recouping some of its losses from the New York session.

Technology shares extended their decline, with chipmakers leading losses as concerns grew that the AI-driven rally may have gone too far, too fast. While confidence in the technology’s long-term potential remains strong, investors are increasingly questioning whether sky-high valuations can keep pace with rising spending and a more crowded market.

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“There are concerns that the high memory prices will bring AI solutions that need less memory, and that the data center build-out may not all get built in the end,” said Louis Navellier of Navellier & Associates. “And that token pricing of AI software will push users to lower-cost versions, especially Chinese offerings, and is bringing increased caution regarding the enthusiasm for all things AI.”
In other corners of the market, American crude slipped early Friday as tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz increased further, adding to a gush of near-term supply while talks between the US and Iran continue. The commodity traded just under $68.50 a barrel.Gold held its gains from the New York session as the weak US jobs numbers eased rate-hike bets. The non-yielding metal, which is less attractive when rates are increased, traded around $4,125 an ounce.

The yen gave up some of its gains from the previous session to trade near 161.40 to the greenback.

Earlier, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 received a boost after data showed the labor market cooled in June, reinforcing expectations the Fed can afford to be patient on interest rates.

Nonfarm payrolls increased 57,000 last month after downward revisions to the prior two months took some of the shine off recent blockbuster reports, Bureau of Labor Statistics data Thursday showed. The unemployment rate fell to 4.2% as labor force participation plunged.

Traders pared back expectations for additional Fed rate hikes, though they continued to price in at least one increase this year.

“A labor market that is still expanding, but no longer overheating, allows the Fed to remain patient while assessing price pressures,” said Andrew Dubinsky at UBS Chief Investment Office. “If disinflation continues as expected, policymakers will have little reason to move away from a holding pattern in the second half of the year.”

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Nike shares climbed further Thursday, extending a two-day recovery from a dramatic after-hours selloff that followed Tuesday’s fourth-quarter results as investors increasingly bet that the worst of the athletic giant’s prolonged slump may be behind it, even if the road ahead remains difficult.

Shares of the Beaverton, Oregon-based company were trading at $43.81 as of 10:42 a.m. EDT, up 75 cents, or 1.74%, on the day, building on Wednesday’s 4.9% surge during regular trading that effectively reversed the initial panic selling that had sent the stock down as much as 10% in after-hours trading immediately following the results.

Nike’s fiscal fourth-quarter earnings report, released Tuesday after the close, showed quarterly revenue of $10.97 billion, modestly ahead of the $10.86 billion consensus estimate, while earnings per share came in at 72 cents versus the 13-cent estimate that analysts had set ahead of the report. The enormous EPS beat, however, came almost entirely from a one-time benefit: a 52-cent per-share gain tied to an expected recovery of tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, worth approximately $986 million before tax, that inflated the bottom line well beyond what the underlying business produced in the quarter.

Stripping out that tariff-related windfall, adjusted earnings per share came in at approximately 20 cents, up from 14 cents in the year-ago period, representing what the company described as its first quarter of underlying earnings per share growth in two years, a milestone that has given bulls something to point to as evidence of gradual improvement.

Nike Chief Executive Elliott Hill, who took over the company last year and has been overseeing what management describes as a multiyear reset of the brand’s competitive positioning, was candid on the earnings call about where the company still falls short.

“Overall, the results aren’t there yet,” Hill said. “We know we’re not living up to our full potential, particularly in Nike sportswear and Jordan streetwear, where sell through remains challenged, impacting both current discounting and future order books.”

Despite those frank admissions, Hill also highlighted the areas where the turnaround appears to be gaining traction, particularly in running footwear.

“What feels different this time around is we’re not treating the tournament as a single moment, we’re using it to reshape our business, telling a connected story over time, engaging different communities in relevant ways and building momentum that carries well beyond the tournament,” Hill said of the company’s strategy around the 2026 World Cup, which Nike is participating in aggressively through advertising and athlete partnerships despite not being an official sponsor of the event.

The World Cup reference captures one of the more interesting dynamics of Nike’s recent quarter. The company reported that its advertising campaigns during the World Cup have dramatically outpaced rival Adidas in social media traction and brand attention metrics, even without the formal sponsorship rights that Adidas holds, a distinction that has given the marketing team confidence that the brand’s storytelling capabilities remain intact even as product sell-through has struggled.

Among the results themselves, several trends stood out as genuine positives despite the broader revenue decline of 1% on a reported basis or 4% on a currency-neutral basis. North American wholesale revenue rose 10% in the quarter, a meaningful reversal from periods in which Nike’s wholesale business had been deliberately scaled back as the company pushed toward its direct-to-consumer channels. Nike Direct fell 6%, reflecting continued softness in the company’s digital and owned-retail channels, and the Greater China market declined 12%, continuing a streak of weakness in what has historically been one of Nike’s highest-margin geographies.

Running footwear posted its fifth consecutive quarter of double-digit growth, a streak that has demonstrated Nike’s ability to fight back against competitive pressure from newer brands including Deckers’ Hoka and On Holding, two companies that had rapidly taken market share from Nike in the premium performance running category over the prior several years. Comparable sales and revenue at Foot Locker, one of Nike’s most important wholesale distribution partners and a relationship Nike had deliberately deprioritized during its earlier push toward direct-to-consumer, were positive for the first time in four years, a concrete sign that the company’s efforts to repair and rebuild its wholesale channel relationships are beginning to produce results.

On operating margin, Nike generated a 12% operating margin in the quarter, up 9.1 percentage points year over year, though that improvement was entirely attributable to the tariff windfall rather than underlying operational efficiency gains.

Looking ahead, Nike’s guidance was sober rather than optimistic. Chief Financial Officer Matt Friend indicated the company expects earnings to be “flattish” through the first two fiscal quarters of 2027, while gross margin for the first fiscal quarter of 2027 is expected to be slightly positive on a year-over-year basis, the first such improvement in several quarters.

The stock’s response to all of that reflects investor psychology at a critical inflection point. Shares had fallen to 11-year lows heading into the report, with the stock trading down nearly 42% over the trailing year and well below levels that many analysts had characterized as reflecting already-depressed expectations. When a deeply beaten-down stock beats estimates, even for complicated reasons involving one-time items, the response frequently reflects relief that the situation is not as bad as feared rather than genuine enthusiasm about fundamental improvement.

Analysts’ consensus price targets remain well above current levels, with several covering the stock citing the stock’s valuation at approximately three times trailing sales as a potential floor even if the turnaround takes longer than expected. Wall Street’s assessment is mixed, however, with some analysts cautioning that flat earnings guidance for fiscal 2027 reflects a missed opportunity at a moment when the World Cup, the NBA Finals, and other cultural moments could have provided meaningful revenue tailwinds if the brand had been better positioned to capitalize on them.

UPS said it relied on Boeing’s assessment that a known engine mount issue did not pose a flight safety risk when it chose not to adopt enhanced inspections before last year’s fatal cargo plane crash in Louisville, according to newly released National Transportation Safety Board filings.

In its post-hearing submission to the NTSB, UPS said it followed all required Boeing and Federal Aviation Administration-approved maintenance programs for its MD-11 fleet. 

The company said Boeing’s 2008 and 2011 service letters described the issue as not a “safety of flight” condition and stated that existing inspection intervals were sufficient to identify problems involving the engine mount’s spherical bearings.

UPS Flight 2976, a McDonnell Douglas MD-11 cargo jet bound for Honolulu, crashed shortly after takeoff from Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport on Nov. 4, 2025, after its left engine and pylon separated from the aircraft. 

UNITED FLIGHT CARRYING 221 PASSENGERS HITS POLE AND TRUCK ON APPROACH TO NEWARK

Fire and smoke mark where a UPS cargo plane crashed near Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport on Nov. 4, 2025, in Louisville, Kentucky. (Stephen Cohen/Getty Images / Getty Images)

Three crew members and 12 people on the ground were killed, while 23 others were injured. The NTSB has not yet released its final report on the accident.

UPS said it reviewed Boeing’s service letters and incorporated revisions to the aircraft maintenance manual, but did not alter its maintenance program. They said this was because Boeing also concluded the issue was not safety-related and never updated its Maintenance Planning Document (MPD), which operators use to establish required maintenance schedules. 

According to UPS, Boeing’s failure to revise the MPD indicated that no additional maintenance tasks were necessary beyond those already being performed.

Smoke rises from the site of a UPS cargo plane crash near the UPS Worldport at Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport in Louisville, Kentucky, on Nov. 4, 2025. (Leandro Lozado/AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images)

Boeing, in its own filing with investigators, said it reviewed an operator report involving a failed spherical bearing in 2008 and determined, based on the information available at the time, that the issue was not a safety concern. 

The company said it issued a service letter recommending enhanced inspections of the bearing and later revised the aircraft maintenance manual to include an inspection procedure designed to detect bearing movement.

Boeing also said aircraft operators are responsible for maintaining their fleets in coordination with regulators, noting that its maintenance planning documents and manuals provide recommendations that operators use to develop their own maintenance programs.

Black smoke could be seen near the Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport. (Credit: X/@WT_Mason)

UPS also argued that Boeing’s Continued Operational Safety process failed to identify the damaged bearing and related structural damage as a flight safety issue. The carrier said maintenance records for the aircraft showed no evidence that the spherical bearing had migrated before the crash and argued testimony during the NTSB hearing established that bearings could fail without visible movement.

Both Boeing and UPS said in their NTSB submissions that they will continue cooperating with the investigation. Boeing said it has since worked with the FAA on updated inspection and maintenance procedures, developed a redesigned spherical bearing with a 4,000-flight-cycle life limit and implemented changes to its continued operational safety process.

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The FAA’s submission to investigators reiterated that the agency is supporting the NTSB’s investigation. The NTSB has not announced when it expects to issue its final report determining the probable cause of the crash.

FOX Business has reached out to UPS and Boeing for additional comment on their NTSB submissions.

Polibeli Group Ltd. shares jumped more than 12% to $9.80 in morning trading Thursday, extending recent gains as the digital supply chain company advances its strategic shift toward artificial intelligence computing infrastructure opportunities in Southeast Asia.

The move comes weeks after the company announced a review of potential AI-related initiatives and follows a non-binding memorandum of understanding signed late June to explore development of a large-scale AI computing center. Investors appeared to reward the pivot, with trading volume elevated as the small-cap stock attracted renewed attention in a market hungry for AI exposure.

Polibeli Group, a Cayman Islands-incorporated holding company with operations centered in Indonesia, provides digital supply chain and distribution services across Southeast Asia, Japan, Hong Kong and beyond. The company operates platforms connecting small and medium-sized retailers with procurement, logistics and marketing solutions, dealing in consumer electronics, household goods, beauty products and other categories.

Its core business has faced challenges, reporting net losses in recent years amid competitive pressures and operational scaling. For the year ended Dec. 31, 2025, revenue stood at approximately $26.42 million with a net loss of $5.97 million. Earlier periods showed similar profitability pressures as the company invested in platform development and regional expansion.

Leadership transitions have also marked recent months. In May, the company announced the resignation of its chief financial officer, followed by the appointment of Meijun Liang to the role in June. Such changes often accompany strategic refocus efforts in small public companies.

Strategic Review Targets AI Growth

On June 12, Polibeli Group disclosed it was evaluating opportunities in AI computing infrastructure services as part of its long-term growth strategy. Management highlighted the global significance of AI trends and the potential to leverage existing regional presence, customer networks and technology capabilities.

The company has been monitoring AI market developments closely. In a recent filing, it signaled intent to identify projects that could complement current operations and create additional value for customers and shareholders.

The late-June MOU with Authaikam Company Limited targets exploration of a potential 100MW AI computing center in Thailand. While non-binding, the agreement marks a concrete step toward infrastructure ambitions in a region benefiting from data center demand driven by cloud computing and AI applications.

Analysts and market watchers note that successful execution could transform Polibeli’s profile from a regional trading and logistics player to one with exposure to high-growth technology infrastructure. However, the capital-intensive nature of data centers and AI facilities presents execution risks for a company with a modest balance sheet and history of losses.

Operational Footprint and Market Position

Polibeli’s Polibeli Platform and related apps serve SMEs by offering one-stop procurement and sales tools. The business model emphasizes efficiency in supply chains spanning multiple countries, with significant sourcing from China and distribution across Asia.

Seasonality affects results, with stronger performance typically in the second half of the year ahead of holiday periods. Competition in digital commerce and B2B services remains intense, requiring continuous innovation and cost management.

The company’s recent SEC filings, including a Form F-1 registration effectiveness in late June, reflect ongoing efforts to maintain compliance as a Nasdaq-listed entity. Public listings provide access to capital markets but also impose reporting and governance standards on smaller firms.

Shares have shown high volatility typical of micro- and small-cap stocks, with a 52-week range reflecting both enthusiasm around strategic announcements and pressures from operational results. Market capitalization stands in the low billions, classifying it as a small-cap issue sensitive to news flow.

Broader AI Infrastructure Boom

Polibeli’s moves align with a global surge in demand for AI computing power. Data centers capable of supporting large language models and inference workloads require substantial energy, land and specialized equipment. Southeast Asia has emerged as an attractive region due to lower costs, improving infrastructure and government incentives in countries like Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia.

Major technology firms and hyperscalers continue expanding capacity worldwide, creating opportunities for regional players. Success for Polibeli would depend on securing partnerships, financing and technical expertise to compete or collaborate effectively.

Investors should weigh the speculative nature of such pivots. Many small companies announce AI initiatives to boost visibility, but few deliver material revenue or profits in the near term. Polibeli’s track record as a supply chain operator provides some operational foundation, yet infrastructure represents a significant departure requiring new capabilities.

Financial Considerations and Risks

With limited cash reserves relative to potential project scales, Polibeli may need to pursue funding through debt, equity offerings or joint ventures. Dilution risks for existing shareholders remain a concern in capital raises.

The company’s financial statements highlight ongoing losses and negative margins, underscoring the need for improved operational efficiency alongside growth initiatives. Gross margins have been thin, reflecting competitive pricing in trading and logistics.

Broader market risks include regulatory changes in crypto or technology sectors, though Polibeli’s focus appears centered on traditional infrastructure rather than digital assets. Geopolitical tensions in Asia could affect supply chains and investment climates.

Positive developments, such as definitive agreements on the Thailand project or additional AI partnerships, could sustain momentum. Conversely, delays or unfavorable terms might pressure the stock.

Outlook for Small-Cap AI Plays

Polibeli joins a cohort of smaller firms attempting to capitalize on AI enthusiasm. While the sector offers substantial long-term potential, historical patterns show high failure rates for companies shifting business models dramatically.

Market participants will monitor upcoming filings and potential updates on the strategic review. Any concrete progress toward revenue-generating AI projects could significantly re-rate the company’s valuation, currently elevated on a price-to-sales basis given recent losses.

For long-term investors, the story hinges on execution in a competitive landscape dominated by larger, better-capitalized players. Short-term traders, meanwhile, may continue reacting to news catalysts and volume spikes.

As of midday trading, gains appeared supported by retail and momentum interest, though sustainability depends on fundamental progress. Polibeli’s journey illustrates both the opportunities and challenges facing small public companies in rapidly evolving technology sectors.

The stock’s performance underscores investor appetite for AI-themed stories, even at early stages. Whether Polibeli can translate announcements into tangible results will determine if the recent surge marks the start of a sustained rerating or a short-lived trading event.