- Apple, Amazon, and Alphabet all reported lacklustre profits on Friday, weighing on market confidence.

- Asian stocks were divided, with Chinese benchmarks falling while Japanese and Australian stocks gained. The Hang Seng Tech Index fell 1.5%, tracking drops in the Hong Kong market as a whole.

- Positive enthusiasm after Thursday's jumps in the Nasdaq 100 and S&P 500 faded as investors digested late data from the tech triumvirate, which revealed that an economic slowdown is stifling demand for electronics, e-commerce, cloud computing, and digital advertising.

- In early Asia trade, Australian and New Zealand bonds extended the global debt rally, with rates in the 2-10 maturity range falling by more than 10 bps. Treasuries have levelled off after a robust rally following the Federal Reserve's meeting on Wednesday.

- The 10-yr yield in Japan fell by half a basis point to 0.49%, just within the central bank's target range.

- The dollar index recovered after falling to its lowest level since April of last year earlier this week.