AI rally fears and China trade woes chill stocks

Tech-heavy stock markets were heading for their biggest weekly fall in seven months on Friday, as investors fretted over the sustainability of a rally in artificial intelligence stocks.

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Weaker-than-expected China trade data also showed how hard US President Donald Trump's tariffs have hit.

The STOXX benchmark of 600 big European companies edged down 0.17% in early trading Friday morning, even as US markets looked set for a brighter open with S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures up 0.3% following a 9% drop for the Nasdaq on Thursday.

For the week so far, the world’s biggest tech index is down 9.8%, which if sustained would mark its largest one-week drop since April, when tariffs were announced. The Nasdaq has gained more than 50% since then.

China's exports shrank 1.8 in October, the worst performance since February, chilling Asian markets with a stark reminder of the manufacturing juggernaut's reliance on American consumers.

China’s blue-chip CSI3OO Index and the Shanghai Composite Index both finished 0.3% lower on Friday.

Japan's Nikkei fell 1.2% to head for a weekly loss of 4.1%, the largest since April, while in Seoul the KOSPI fell 1.8% for a 3.7% weekly fall, the largest since February.

Chip and cable makers were among the biggest losers, with tech investor Softbank Group Corp down nearly 20% this week. Bitcoin, sometimes a bellwether for tech sentiment, is down 8% on the week to $101,525.