Asian stocks rise on CoreWeave beat as bonds slide

Asian stocks rose in early trading Wednesday after CoreWeave ↘ 0.51% reported better-than-expected quarterly results, which eased worries about the artificial intelligence trade. The gains helped offset a Wall Street selloff on Tuesday that followed a hotter-than-expected US inflation report. Bonds across the region fell along with Treasuries, Bloomberg reported.swissinfo.ch

Japan's Nikkei 225 and Topix both moved higher, while South Korea's Kospi swung between gains and losses. Nasdaq 100 futures rose after the underlying index fell in regular trading, according to Bloomberg. Not every stock joined in. SoftBank fell 8% in Tokyo after posting a ¥1.12 trillion loss for its fiscal second quarter, which it tied to write-downs on advance payments for US data-center projects.economictimes.com+1

CoreWeave beats estimates

The AI cloud provider's third-quarter revenue rose to $3.661 billion, up more than $1 billion from the previous quarter, according to the company's earnings release. Analysts polled by LSEG had expected $3.55 billion. CoreWeave also raised its 2026 revenue forecast to between $13 billion and $13.3 billion (CNBC Comcast Corporation ↗ 0.98%). CEO Michael Intrator called it "a breakout quarter."sec.gov+1

The company still lost $709 million, and interest expense for the quarter came to $846 million. Its revenue backlog grew to about $132.5 billion, up from $104.2 billion at the end of June. The shares rose in after-hours trading, a relief for investors who had worried that the debt-heavy business was slowing down.finance.yahoo.com

Inflation revives rate-hike bets

The US consumer price index rose 0.4% in October, above the 0.3% economists expected. Core prices, which leave out food and energy, rose 0.3% against a forecast of 0.2%, Reuters Thomson Reuters Corporation ↗ 0.10% reported. The S&P 500 ↘ 0.37% closed down 0.38% and the Nasdaq Composite lost 0.74%, according to Reuters. Nvidia ↘ 5.47% weighed on the market, falling 5.5% amid uncertainty over its leadership.reuters.com+2

Short-dated Treasuries took the biggest hit. The two-year yield posted its largest jump in 19 months, and money markets now expect the Federal Reserve to raise rates by a quarter point in December. Benchmark bonds in Australia and New Zealand also fell. Earlier on Tuesday, Fed Governor Christopher Waller said a half-point hike "should be considered at the December meeting" if inflation stayed firm. After the data came out, Dallas Fed President Lorie Logan said it "may be possible to move more rapidly this winter".cnbc.com+2

"A December hike is our firm base case despite wider AI jitters, and stubborn inflation means we cannot rule out further hikes in 2027," said Lindsay Rosner of Goldman Sachs Asset Management The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. ↗ 0.44%.swissinfo.ch