Asian stocks opened lower on Thursday following a volatile session on Wall Street, where equities and haven assets broadly declined. Japan and South Korea saw early losses of more than 1%, while the Nasdaq 100 fell 1% after tepid guidance from Texas Instruments and a 10% slump in Netflix, with Tesla also sliding despite strong sales. Markets were rattled by news that the Trump administration is considering curbs on software exports to China, adding to trade tensions, while oil prices jumped nearly 3% after US sanctions on Russia’s largest producers in a bid to pressure President Putin over Ukraine. Treasury yields were steady, the dollar index remained little changed, and gold fell for a third consecutive session. Speculative sectors, including crypto, AI stocks, and precious metals, experienced sharp losses, with analysts noting a cooling of parabolic gains seen since August. In Japan, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi announced new economic measures to aid households and businesses amid persistent inflation, while shares of Disco Corp. and Lasertec Corp. fell over 4% on the Nikkei 225. Despite global volatility, US companies are reporting strong earnings, with the proportion of firms beating expectations the highest since 2021, supported by AI investment, deficit spending, and resilient consumer demand. Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve is reviewing plans to relax bank capital requirements for large lenders and faces a lack of timely private-sector employment data amid the ongoing government shutdown, highlighting ongoing economic uncertainty.