Tech, hawkish Fed pressure stocks before megacap earnings parade

By Alden Bentley

(Reuters) - A look at the day ahead in Asian markets.

Sagging tech stocks weighed on US indexes, as Wall Street rethinks AI leadership after the arrival of DeepSeek, a Chinese disruptor claiming big results at a smaller cost.

With many Asian markets still closed for the Lunar New Year, Japan's Nikkei 225 will carry the baton after pretty much cueing off Wall Street's ups and downs all week.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq briefly extended losses after the Federal Open Market Committee closed out its two-day policy meeting with hawkish hold that left markets thinking rates might not come down again for a while, if at all.

After the market closed, earnings reports for three of the Magnificent 7 stocks that spearheaded the bull market did not shed much light. Microsoft shares initially fell more than 3% in aftermarket trade, Tesla fell then bounced and Meta dipped 1.3%. Apple, another Mag 7, reports late Thursday.

Early slippage in Apple and a 4.5% drop in AI-chip leader Nvidia helped nudge the S&P 500 down 0.46% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq down 0.51%. Microsoft closed off 1%, Meta up 0.3% and Tesla down 2.25%.

Nvidia has seesawed all week, recovering almost 9% on Tuesday from a historic hammering on Monday after China's DeepSeek said its AI models were cost-effective and ran on less advanced chips compared to OpenAI.

The Federal Reserve was widely expected to leave rates where they were, based on the signals out of the December meeting, where policymakers lowered the fed funds target range 25 basis points to 4.25%-4.50% for a total reduction of 100 basis points since September.

Wednesday's unanimous decision to keep the overnight interest rate at 4.25%-4.50%, coupled with language that dropped a reference to inflation making progress toward the Fed's 2% goal, puts the central bank in a holding pattern as officials await further inflation and jobs data, and clarity on the impact of President Donald Trump's policies.

The hold was no surprise since officials agreed at the December FOMC that they were "at or near the point at which it would be appropriate to slow the pace of policy easing," according to minutes of the session.

After flatlining all morning, Treasury yields popped, while the dollar mainly held steady, after the 2 p.m. ET/1900 GMT announcement, which was the first central bank decision since President Donald Trump took office.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell said in the post-meeting news conference that it is too soon to say what President Donald Trump's policies will do and the central bank will take its time assessing what the new government policy regime means.

"We don’t know what will happen with tariffs, with immigration, with fiscal policy and with regulatory policy," Powell said.

Here are key developments that could provide more direction to markets on Thursday:

- Australia trade balance (Dec)

- US GDP (Q4 Advance)

- Apple earnings (after market close)

(Editing by Diane Craft)