The Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) led a Wall Street rout on Tuesday as a sell-off in memory chipmakers spurred doubts about the AI trade, piling pressure on stocks more broadly even as US-Iran talks showed progress.
The tech-exposed Nasdaq dived around 2.4%, while the S&P 500 (^GSPC) sank 1.5%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI), which includes fewer tech names, slid 0.6%.
The Nasdaq is set for another hammering after Monday saw Big Tech players take a hit as SpaceX (SPCX) notched its third day of losses in a row. Shares in Elon Musk’s space company fell further on Tuesday, threatening to push the company below $2 trillion in market value.
Piling on the pressure, a sell-off in memory chip giants SK Hynix (000660.KS) and Samsung Electronics (005930.KS, SSNLF) in South Korea underscored growing questions about overstretched AI valuations. Both saw their shares sink over 12%, to drag the benchmark Kospi Composite (^KS11) stock index to a 10% loss.
The rout turns up the focus on Micron (MU) earnings due for release on Wednesday, watched for a read on how strong the demand for memory remains. Shares in the chipmaker dropped 12% after the open, after surging to a record close on Monday.
Meanwhile, ongoing peace and nuclear negotiations between the US and Iran showed signs of progress. Brent (BZ=F) and WTI (CL=F) crude futures both fell less than 1% after the US issued a 60-day waiver on oil sanctions on its adversary.
