Nasdaq sank 1.5% and the S&P 500 lost 0.5% on Thursday as AI leaders extended their slide, outweighing broadly positive earnings that lifted most stocks in the benchmark index.
Nvidia fell 2.4%, Micron 5.6%, Sandisk 12.6% and Western Digital 9.2% as investors questioned whether AI-driven demand for chips and memory can justify their huge gains.
South Korea’s Kospi dropped 6.4%, hit by declines in Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix and by the Bank of Korea’s first rate hike since 2023.
TSMC beat profit forecasts, but its U.S.-traded shares still fell 2.3%, underscoring how pressure on AI names is overriding strong chip-industry results.
Brent briefly topped $86 before settling at $84.23, while the 10-year Treasury yield edged up to 4.56%, adding rate and inflation worries to the global equity selloff.