Asia Open: The Fed Gives, Big Tech Takes as Alphabet Face-Plants

Asian markets opened with a theme of the Fed giving “almost exactly what it had ordered,” while Big Tech drove the main moves. Although rates were kept unchanged in a 10-2 vote and Warsh’s language suggested patience, the bond curve steepened and the 10-year yield hovered around 5%, leaving uncertainty about whether inflation progress is fully over. Microsoft surged after hours as Azure growth reassured investors that the cloud engine still has momentum. Alphabet, by contrast, fell about 10% after-hours, with the selloff attributed to softer advertising and search performance even as Google Cloud reported strong results. The divergence reflected a market increasingly focused on where cash actually lands from AI spending.