Asia — sea of red: Kospi −4%, SK Hynix −6.5%, Taiwan and Hong Kong follow after a sold earnings night
Asia is a sea of red this morning, and Korea is its center. The Kospi is down 4.1% — erasing Tuesday's 2.6% rebound and more — with SK Hynix falling 6.5% and Samsung 4.6%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng has lost 3.2%, the Nikkei 2.6%, and Taiwan 1.8%, though TSMC itself is only 0.8% lower in Taipei: the selling sits squarely on memory, not on the foundry.
Lam Research — the chip-equipment maker with the heaviest memory exposure — beat on profit and revenue last night and fell 7.2% in after-hours trading. By the time Seoul closed, the message had crossed the Pacific: SK Hynix −5.5%, Samsung −4.0%, the Kospi −3.5% — Tuesday's 2.6% rebound gone in one session. Tokyo lost 2.7%, Hong Kong 3.1%, and Europe's chip-equipment flagship ASML trades 3.3% lower. Nasdaq futures sit 1.8% below Wednesday's close.