HONG KONG (AP) — U.S. futures and Asian shares traded mostly lower on Friday, tracking Wall Street's losses as technology stocks again dragged on markets.

Bitcoin sank to roughly half its record price, giving back all it gained since U.S. President Donald Trump won the White House for his second term.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 was up 0.5% to 54,073.52, recovering from losses earlier this week, with technology-related stocks leading gains. SoftBank Group rose 1.9% and chipmaker Tokyo Electron rose 3%. Japan will also be holding its general election on Sunday, in which Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi expects to win a stronger public mandate for her policies.

South Korea’s Kospi lost 1.7% to 5,076.69, weighed down by tech shares. Samsung Electronics, the country’s biggest listed company, fell 0.9%. Chipmaker SK Hynix was down 0.6%.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 1.2% to 26,569.14. The Shanghai Composite index was flat at 4,075.37.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 shed 1.6% lower to 8,745.60.

Taiwan’s Taiex fell 0.2%.

Against the backdrop of the technology sell-off this week, Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency, saw dimming enthusiasm and was trading about 9% lower at just under $65,000 early Friday, after it briefly sank over 12% to below $64,000 on Thursday. That’s down from a record of above $124,000 in October.

The future for the S&P 500 was 0.3% lower, while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.2%.

On Thursday, the S&P 500 fell 1.2% to 6,798.40, its sixth loss in the seven days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.2% to 48,908.72. The Nasdaq composite dropped 1.6% to 22,540.59.

Technology stocks were among the worst hit as concerns persist over whether massive AI investments by many of the Big Tech firms will pay off.

Chipmaker Qualcomm sank 8.5% despite better-than-expected quarterly revenues. Alphabet lost 0.5% as investors were focused on its huge spendings on AI.

Amazon fell 11% in after hours trading Thursday after it announced plans to boost capital spending by more than 50% to $200 billion in AI and other areas.

American artificial intelligence startup Anthropic ’s new AI tools also fueled the sell-off of software stocks on Wall Street this week, as its sophistication means many traditional software development services and products could be disrupted or replaced.

Gold and silver prices have been volatile this week following a months-long rally as investors moved into safe haven assets prompted by factors including elevated geopolitical tensions. Gold prices fell 1% on Friday to $4,843.70 per ounce, after nearing $5,600 last week.

The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. says it sees signs of financial stress among homeowners in Toronto and Vancouver, with missed mortgage payments projected to steadily increase, albeit from a low level.

Tania Bourassa-Ochoa, deputy chief economist at CMHC, said in a report Thursday that financial pressures among homeowners vary across major markets in Canada, but Toronto and Vancouver appear to be most at risk.

"Vulnerabilities are becoming apparent in high-priced markets like Toronto and Vancouver and among pandemic-era, highly leveraged buyers. However, the pressure is not limited to these groups," she said.

"Regions with high exposure to tariffs are also increasingly at risk. Job losses are already evident in certain industries and regions heavily impacted by tariffs. We may see a growing number of households struggling to meet both non-mortgage and mortgage payments."

The growth in missed mortgage payments in Toronto, which has more than quadrupled from post-pandemic lows, is the result of several factors, the report said. That includes higher household debt levels, concentrated mom-and-pop investor activity, slower sales activity and a weaker labour market.

"Delinquency pressures in the (Greater Toronto Area) are expected to remain elevated throughout 2026," the report said.

Meanwhile, Vancouver's housing market has shown an incremental rise in missed mortgage payments, which CMHC said can be attributed to high debt levels and a softer resale market.

The report also said first-time buyers who purchased during the pandemic when interest rates were at rock bottom levels are also showing greater signs of vulnerability.

It said they took on larger debt levels relative to their income and have limited equity in their homes that were purchased at peak prices.

However, while missed mortgage payments have risen, they remain at historic lows.

The report said some borrowers are extending their amortization periods to help lower their monthly payments.

"Canadian households have been playing financial Tetris very well, adjusting their budgets and even making some sacrifices to make ends meet. As long as income remains steady, most households are staying on track," Bourassa-Ochoa said in the report.

The national housing agency said more than 1.5 million households have already renewed their mortgage at higher interest rates, with another million expected to do so in the coming year.

Bourassa-Ochoa said most Canadians have been resilient while facing higher interest rates at renewal.

Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem says businesses ought to “lean into” the forces disrupting the economy or risk failing to adapt.

Macklem gave a speech to the Empire Club of Canada in Toronto on Thursday where he told the business crowd how “structural changes” like U.S. tariffs, artificial intelligence and slowing population growth are affecting the economy.

He said in prepared remarks that while businesses are holding back investment and hiring plans in the face of U.S. protectionism, they’ve also been slow to adopt new AI technologies.

The Bank of Canada is forecasting weak growth in the economy over the next two years as businesses adjust to those disruptive forces. Macklem sought to rally the business crowd to embrace the changes already underway in the economy.

“We can be victims of U.S. tariffs and AI disruption, or we can lean into structural change, expand our internal market, diversify our trade, embrace new technology and raise our productivity,” he said.

Macklem also warned that slowing immigration and a declining fertility rate are putting Canada’s population on a slower growth track in the coming years.

As a result, he said the Bank of Canada expects the labour force will “hardly grow at all" over the next few years.

“That means fewer new consumers and workers in the economy, which lowers our economic potential,” Macklem said.

The central bank still expects businesses to be restrained in their hiring this year, thanks mostly to an uncertain outlook. With muted labour force growth in the forecast, the bank is not expecting the unemployment rate to trend much higher than the 6.8 per cent recorded in December.

Macklem said the bank expects gradual improvement in the labour market in the years to come, but the structural changes affecting the economy mean the improvement could be uneven across sectors and occupations.

The Bank of Canada is not seeing much impact from AI in the labour market, Macklem said, though there is some early evidence that the technology is reducing the number of entry-level positions, which may in turn be boosting youth unemployment. Right now, it’s hard to separate the effects of AI from trade and demographic shifts in the jobs market, he noted.

The economic transition the central bank sees on the horizon could arrive sooner if trade uncertainty eases and businesses move quickly to invest in new technology and markets, Macklem said. He also warned that the economy could fail to adapt, and GDP and productivity might not recover, driving worse job and wage growth and a less affordable Canada.

NEW YORK (AP) — Sharp drops hit Wall Street on Thursday as technology stocks fell and bitcoin plunged again to roughly half its record price set last fall. Several discouraging reports on the U.S. job market also knocked down yields in the bond market.

The S&P 500 fell 1.2% for its sixth loss in the seven days since it set an all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 592 points, or 1.2%, and the Nasdaq composite sank 1.6%.

Qualcomm fell 8.5% for one of the market’s bigger losses even though the chip company topped analysts’ expectations for profit and revenue in the latest quarter. Its forecast for profit in the current quarter fell short of analysts’ expectations as an industrywide shortage of memory pushes some handset makers to cut back on orders.

In the bond market, Treasury yields sank after a report said the number of U.S. workers applying for unemployment benefits jumped last week by more than economists expected. That could be a signal that the pace of layoffs is accelerating.

Some economists suggested last week’s rise could be statistical noise, and the total number remains relatively low compared with history. But a separate report said that layoffs announced by U.S.-based employers surged last month. The 108,435 was the highest number for a month since October, according to global outplacement and executive coaching firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

For a January, it’s the worst since 2009 during the Great Recession.

A third report from the U.S. government said that employers were advertising the lowest number of job openings in December in more than five years.

Weakness in the job market could push the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates to support the economy, even if it also risks worsening inflation. Treasury yields fell across the board in response.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury sank to 4.19% from 4.29% late Wednesday. That’s a notable move for the bond market.

The moves were even sharper in commodities markets.

Silver’s price dropped 9.1% in its latest wild swing since its record-breaking momentum suddenly halted last week.

Gold’s price fell 1.2% to settle at $4,889.50 per ounce. It’s been careening back and forth since roughly doubling in price over 12 months. It neared $5,600 last week and then fell below $4,500 on Monday.

Both gold and silver had been screaming higher as investors piled into places they thought would be safer amid worries about political turmoil, a U.S. stock market that critics called expensive and huge debt loads for governments worldwide. But nothing can keep rising at such extreme rates forever, and critics had been calling for a pullback.

Montreal-based Lightspeed Commerce’s (LSPD.TO) shares fell more than five per cent Thursday morning, after the company reported a net loss of US$33.6 million in its third quarter.

The point-of-sale company says it lost 24 cents US per diluted share in the quarter ended Dec. 31, compared with a loss of US$26.6 million, or 17 cents US per diluted share, a year earlier.

CEO Dax Dasilva told Yahoo Finance Canada the higher net loss was driven by writedowns of software assets acquired during the pandemic that are no longer useful because of advancements in AI and technology. He expects the impact on net loss to end in the fourth quarter, noting that the company has not posted an operating loss.

Lightspeed reported quarterly revenue of US$312.3 million, up from US$280.1 million a year earlier. Transaction-based revenue rose to US$209.4 million from US$181.7 million, while subscription revenue increased to US$93.0 million from US$88.1 million.

Lightspeed shares tumbled as much as 18 per cent last February, after the company abandoned a potential sale and opted to remain public. The stock has fallen 35 per cent since this time last year. Following that decision, the company announced a transformation plan to maximize value for the business and its shareholders.

“We've significantly shifted the financial profile, and that's by focusing on the areas that are high ROI and then everything else in the business, optimizing it for profitability,” Dasilva said.

He says part of that strategy involved doubling down on Lightspeed Retail in North America and Lightspeed Hospitality in Europe, where the company has higher close rates. Those segments now account for roughly two-thirds of the business and delivered 21 per cent year-over-year revenue growth in the quarter.

“Since all new business is coming out of the growth portfolio, that’s going to become a larger and larger proportion of the business,” Dasilva said.

He adds that the company remains on track with the targets laid out last year and expects to hit $700 million in gross profit and $140 million in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization by the end of fiscal 2028.

National Bank analyst Richard Tse confirmed in a note that Lightspeed’s third-quarter results point to continued execution on its growth plan.

“That said, in the face of a challenging software tape, we see a balanced risk-to-reward profile at this time,” he said. As a result, National Bank is keeping its “sector perform” rating and US$15 price target on the stock.

Valuations for many software companies fell in 2025 amid investor concerns that artificial intelligence could disrupt traditional business models, including fears that AI could boost developer productivity to the point where customers build their own software.

Canada’s economy overall may have escaped a major downturn, but one sector has been stuck in a recession that is now stretching past its 32nd month, say economists.

Gross domestic product stalled in November and one of the main drags was manufacturing output which fell to its lowest level since 2013, outside the pandemic.

“While many will be quick to blame the U.S. president, the reality is that Canada’s manufacturing sector has been in recession since May 2023 — the longest such stretch in at least a generation (data begin in 1997),” said Stéfane Marion, an economist with National Bank of Canada.

In fact, manufacturing GDP has been declining in Canada for more than two decades, said a report by CIBC Capital Markets economists Benjamin Tal and Katherine Judge.

South of the border, manufacturing output has climbed to almost 10 per cent above its pre-pandemic level, while Canada has yet to get back to where it was in 2019.

A big reason for this, says CIBC, is that the U.S. manufacturing sector is much more capital intensive.

Capital intensive industries are so named because they make large capital expenditures on machinery, technology and plants and spend less on labour. Examples include the auto industry, semiconductor and pharmaceutical production and aerospace.

In the United States, capital intensity in manufacturing has risen by an annual average of 3 per cent since the late 1980s and is now accelerating. Since the pandemic, the U.S. capital intensity index has surged by more than 10 per cent, said the CIBC report.

In Canada, however, the ratio of production in capital intensive industries to non-capital intensive has dropped since 2019.

“This trajectory is working to widen an already wide gap between U.S. and Canadian manufacturing capital intensity,” said Tal and Judge.

Capital intensity is important because these industries tend to be more productive and profitable.

Since the pandemic, U.S. manufacturing productivity has increased by more than two per cent while Canada’s has fallen by more than 5 per cent.

Profit margins in U.S. capital intensive industries are nine percentage points higher than in other manufacturing sub-sectors.

“It’s no surprise then that the profitability gap between the U.S. and Canada has been widening,” said the CIBC economists.

It’s likely to get worse.

Capital intensity in U.S. manufacturing soared during the dot-com boom in the late 1990s and the rapid pace of AI adoption today suggests future gains may be even faster.

Deglobalization and shrinking workforces ensure that more companies will exchange labour with capital and the AI revolution will accelerate that transformation, said Tal and Judge.

Power-of-sale listings are rising across Ontario, signalling mounting financial strain among some homeowners and adding pressure to an already weak housing market.

When a homeowner can no longer pay the mortgage, the lender can take ownership of the property and sell it.

John Pasalis, president of Realosophy Realty, says rising mortgage arrears are a key signal behind the trend. While not every homeowner who falls behind will ultimately lose their property, arrears tend to precede power-of-sale activity.

According to CMHC, mortgage delinquency rates have climbed from 0.13 per cent in the first quarter of 2020 to 0.24 per cent in the third quarter of 2025.

“When the 90-day arrears are very low, you have very few power of sales,” Pasalis said. “When it increases, you definitely see a big increase.”

Experts say power-of-sale listings are increasing in Ontario and are expected to climb further in the year ahead. This activity typically emerges only after months of missed payments and failed or delayed voluntary sale attempts.

Tom Storey, a sales representative at Royal LePage, says that while a wave of higher mortgage renewals plays a role, many power-of-sale cases trace back to risk-taking during the ultra-low-rate period from 2020 to mid-2022.

During that time, some buyers used borrowed money, such as lines of credit or refinancing, to purchase additional properties or stretch their finances beyond what they could afford. When rates rose and prices softened, those highly leveraged owners were among the first to run out of options.

“There are probably lots of sellers that are trying to sell their properties right now that are in a somewhat desperate situation and they’re a month away from power of sale, but you’d never know that because they’re not going to disclose that in the property listing,” Storey said.

He considers power of sales as a “lagging indicator” of financial distress.

While power-of-sale listings still make up only a small share of the market, some experts say their impact can trickle down through the housing market.

Ripple effect

Ron Butler, a mortgage broker at Butler Mortgage, says lenders will sometimes accept lowball offers on these properties, which can affect neighbouring home sales.

The way real estate works is that the most recent sale of a similar home is then used as a comparison for other properties when they go up for sale, he says. “You’ll hear houses are sold at the margins.”

However, Slonee Malhotra, a partner at Sorbara, Schumacher, McCann, notes that lenders do have a fiduciary duty to sell at fair-market value and typically hire a realtor to manage the process. Properties could still sell for less, she says, but lenders need to show they acted reasonably. That said, they’re not expected to hold the home for an extended period.