German semiconductor stocks fell 3.5%-5.5% in pre-market trading.

Volatility in Japan and South Korea has risen recently as retail investors increasingly buy stocks on margin, Morgan Asset Management’s Japan equity portfolio manager Michiko Sakai said. She warned that while severely underweighting AI is risky, aggressively expanding AI exposure also carries risk. The AI rally has broadened beyond a few "AI concept" names into infrastructure, storage chips and components, offering more avenues for positioning. Sakai said markets are becoming more sensitive to valuation levels and the durability of corporate profits and asked: "Should AI company valuations be anchored to near-term earnings or to long-term growth expectations?"

Sources: armed assailants boarded chemical tanker Asana in the Gulf of Aden off Yemen’s southern coast and are believed to have taken control. The vessel had last signalled its destination as Bosaso, Somalia.