Brent crude hit a five-month high while Nvidia, Meta and chip stocks fell, pulling Asia's benchmark indexes down by up to 3.5% a week after South Korea's Kospi plunged 7.57%.
In brief Brent crude rose 2.6% to $111.66 a barrel, its highest in five months, as AI-linked stocks slid and dragged markets lower from Asia to Wall Street. By mid-morning in New York, the Nasdaq, an index heavy with tech companies, was down 1.5% and the S&P 500, which tracks 500 of the largest US companies, had lost 0.8%. Myriad: What’s next for oil prices? Click to make your prediction . Nvidia, the largest US company by market value, fell 2.3% and weighs so heavily on the S&P 500 that its slides reach the index funds inside many retirement accounts. Gasoline prices jumped 9.1% in September alone, which means the same oil shock rattling the stock market is already showing up at the pump. Nvidia price data. Image: Tradingview South Korea’s Kospi fell 3.52%, Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropped 2.65% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 3.03%. China’s CSI 300, which tracks 300 large companies listed in Shanghai and Shenzhen, entered a bear market, the term for a fall of 20% or more from a recent peak. The selloff followed the Kospi plunging 7.57% in a single session on Oct. 15 that local coverage dubbed “Black Thursday,” triggering a circuit breaker, an automatic trading pause meant to calm panic selling. The index is still more than 40% below its June peak. Korea index data. Image: Tradingview CoreWeave, which borrowed to buy Nvidia chips that it rents out to other companies through the cloud, fell 3.8% on worries about its debt. Meta dropped 5.8% after its profit missed forecasts, and Lam Research, a chip equipment maker, slid 7.7% after guiding profit slightly below analyst estimates. Citadel founder Ken Griffin said Tuesday that investors are “almost certainly” in an AI bubble, comparing AI chips to airline seats that cost little to run once bought, so prices can collapse when supply outruns demand. He did not tell investors to sell, but his message still feels contrarian in the middle of a market that has been permabullish since the advent of ChatGPT back in 2023. Core PCE inflation data, a price measure that strips out food and energy, follows Oct. 29, and October payrolls arrive Nov. 6. Daily Debrief Newsletter Start every day with the top news stories right now, plus original features, a podcast, videos and more. Email address Join free Join 72,000+ readers Create an account to save your articles. Add on Google Add Decrypt as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google.