Stocks suffer fresh blow as markets hit by perfect storm

HONG KONG: Asian markets sank on Friday (Jul 24) to track a selloff on Wall Street as world markets are battered by a perfect storm of the resurgent Middle East war, a spike in oil prices back past US$100 and worries about the artificial intelligence investment boom.While traders in the past have been able to offset the bad news in one area by focusing on the positives elsewhere, analysts said they were now struggling to firefight on three fronts.Tech firms were once again bearing the brunt of the selling owing to growing concerns about the colossal sums ploughed into AI hardware, factories and research, with many now questioning when they will see returns.And it has been the big beasts that have taken the heaviest blows - having pummelled their way to multiple record highs in the past two