A brutal tech sell-off sent the world's hottest stock market down 10% — and it's spreading to the US
A brutal tech sell-off sent the world's hottest stock market down 10% — and it's spreading to the US
Huileng Tan,Theron Mohamed,Will MartinTue, June 23, 2026 at 11:44 AM UTC
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An AI-fueled rally has left the South Korean stock market especially exposed to any reversal in market sentiment.Jade Gao/AFP/Getty Images -
South Korea's Kospi plummeted nearly 10% as investors fled AI stocks in a brutal tech sell-off.
The sell-off in Asia has spread to Europe and looks set to hit the US at the open.
Futures in the tech-heavy Nasdaq point to a drop of nearly 3% on Tuesday.
Global stock markets are tumbling on Tuesday as investors dump AI-linked names amid a major tech sell-off.
As of around 7:30 a.m. ET, futures in the tech-heavy Nasdaq pointed to a drop of almost 3% for when trading begins.
Major players on the index are looking at significant falls when the market opens. Nvidia stock is set to drop around 3%, while Tesla is expected to shed 2.5%. Chipmakers AMD and Intel are among the biggest premarket fallers, both set to drop over 6%.
SpaceX, which is not yet listed on the Nasdaq but will join later in the year, is also lower, having shed almost $400 billion in market capitalization in recent days.
The expected fall in the Nasdaq follows a brutal day in Asia, with South Korea's stock market ending nearly 10% lower.
One of the world's hottest stock markets this year, the Kospi tripped a circuit breaker and closed 9.99% lower on Tuesday in its biggest decline since March 4.
"The former generals of the market appear to have lost momentum, and investors are rotating into other areas of the market that are more defensive, less AI focused and offer more predictable cash flows," wrote Chris Weston, the head of research at Pepperstone, in a post on X.
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South Korea has been one of the world's hottest equity markets this year, powered by a surge in artificial-intelligence-related stocks. But that rally has left the market especially exposed to any reversal in the global AI trade.
South Korea's biggest companies bore the brunt of Tuesday's rout. Samsung Electronics closed 12.3% down, while SK Hynix ended 12.5% lower. Both companies had joined the $1 trillion club last month.
The weakness spread across Asia. Japan's Nikkei 225 closed 3.6% lower, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell over 2%. China benchmarks also declined. That then bled into Europe, where major indexes in Germany and France declined more than 1%, as did the pan-continental Euro Stoxx index.
The market sell-off was worse in the tech sector, with futures in the industrials-heavy Dow down only 0.5%, and the S&P 500's losses expected to be around 1.4% as of 7:30 a.m. ET.
Other risk assets have also faltered, with bitcoin tumbling below $63,000, marking a roughly 50% decline since October.
Stocks in the US had already sold off slightly on Monday, with the Nasdaq dropping about 1.3% and the S&P falling 0.4%.
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Source: “AOL Money”
