Asia sidesteps the US software punch

Sidesteps the US software punch

Asia opened the day under the shadow of a US tech stumble and chose footwork over force. Futures dragged, software names flinched, and then the region did something unfashionable. It thought. The early dip was trimmed not by hope but by recognition that Asia is not a single bet on code. It is a web of factories, balance sheets, and real-world cash flow.

The selling line was narrow and obvious. Software cracked first, dragged lower by a small AI stone lobbed into a crowded valuation pool. US software baskets took their worst hit since the tariff scare, and the shockwave crossed the Pacific on autopilot. Asia followed briefly out of habit, then stopped obeying. Rotation replaced retreat. Banks, industrials, energy and the hardware spine of AI absorbed the flow.

This was not a rejection of technology. It was a sorting hat. AI has moved from promise to pressure. From here, the market is no longer rewarding exposure. It is rewarding positioning. Builders, enablers and toll collectors still clear the bar. Software that automates itself out of pricing power does not.

Asia wears that distinction better than the US. Much of its tech sits closer to the factory gate than the billing screen. Chips and equipment held. Software remained the soft underbelly. That is not panic. That is triage.

Oil reminded desks that not all volatility lives in the cloud. The downing of an Iranian drone near a US carrier put a bid back under crude. Not a spike. A pulse. Energy is still the market’s geopolitical seismograph and it flickered back to life.

Japan added a political undertone. The yen sagged ahead of the weekend election as traders leaned into the old yen debasement script. A stronger mandate means louder stimulus, heavier debt and a currency that has to do more work. The move was anticipatory, not disorderly. Positioning before the ink dries.

Crypto was less composed. Bitcoin slid to fresh cycle lows, turning what was once accumulation into inventory risk. When leverage meets falling price, faith becomes optional. Reflexivity cuts both ways.

The broader tell sat beneath the index. US equities fell, yet most stocks rose. Leadership thinned. Breadth widened. The megacap grip loosened while the economy facing names carried on. That is not a selloff. It is a handover.

Asia caught that signal. This was not risk off. It was recalibration. The market is no longer asking who owns the future. It is asking who survives it.