AI stock sell-off spreads to the credit market, SoftBank leads the decline in Asian dollar bonds

As the artificial intelligence stock sell-off further intensifies and spreads to the credit market, SoftBank Group led the decline in Asian dollar bonds on Friday. Data shows that SoftBank's dollar bonds maturing in 2032 fell by 0.9 cents on Friday, marking the largest single-day drop in 10 weeks, making SoftBank bonds one of the worst-performing bonds in Asia, with its stock price once dropping by 16%. Previously, the credit default swap prices related to some U.S. companies impacted by the AI sell-off surged significantly, with traders indicating that the yield premium on Asian dollar bonds widened by at least 3 basis points.

The decline on Friday continued the repricing that has already begun in the global credit market. The AI boom has driven companies to heavily borrow, thereby pushing up financing yields, and this sell-off has also added new pressure to the global economy. On Thursday, the average spread of Asian investment-grade dollar bonds rose to 73 basis points, the highest level since July 2025, although the extent of the sell-off in the credit market remains lower than that in the stock market.