For the second time in recent weeks, South Korea’s KOSPI index dropped sharply. On Tuesday, the index lost 10%. This started with SpaceX’s (SPCX) shares falling by 16% the day before.
The panic in Asian markets rippled back to U.S. markets. On Wednesday morning, markets will try to recover from NASDAQ’s (QQQ) -2.21% drop and the S&P 500 (IVV) losing 1.44%.
Technology stocks fared the worst. NVIDIA (NVDA) fell by over 4%, which was a smaller drop than that of its weaker peers, Intel (INTC) and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). Tesla (TSLA) lost 5.79%.
Investors rotated to safety, seeking stocks that traded at cheap valuations. Verizon Communications (VZ) and AT&T (T) gained on their day, even though prospects in the telecom sector are fair at best. Tobacco firms that pay high dividends rose. Altria (MO) and Philip Morris (PM) are today’s favorite stocks to hold.
Watch Micron
Stock markets are betting heavily that Micron Technology’s (MU) earnings report, which is after markets close today, will have high volatility. Options are pricing a big stock price swing.
In effect, the KOSPI depends heavily on MU stock. It needs bullishness to continue for shares, along with that of SanDisk (SNDK), Seagate (STX), and Western Digital (WDC).
