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Samsung, SK Hynix Drop 4% as Seoul Reopens; Futures Slip

Memory — Samsung and SK Hynix drop 4% as Seoul reopens, storage follows; Nasdaq futures slip

Seoul was shut for two days and came back 2.3% lower, with the two memory makers leading the fall two days before Micron reports. The selling spread to flash storage and memory suppliers across Asia, while the chip-equipment makers held. Chipmakers had just finished a week up 7.4%, and the 30-year Treasury yield closed at 5.504%, its highest close since 2004.

In this edition

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The Morning 10 Mon, Sep 28, 2026 ~90 seconds 08:00 CET

The ten points

Seoul reopened this morning after two days shut for the Chuseok holiday and fell 2.32% to 6,916.53, back below 7,000. The memory makers led it down: Samsung Electronics fell 4.56% and SK Hynix 4.40%. In Tokyo, the flash-memory maker Kioxia lost 3.10%. The selling reached the storage makers too - Taiwan's Phison fell 4.06% - but not the companies that sell the machines. Micron, the largest US memory maker, reports on Wednesday.

The fall comes straight after the best stretch of the month for chips. The chip-stock fund SOXX rose 7.43% last week, with Arm, Intel and AMD each up more than 12%. The Nasdaq-100 fund QQQ gained 3.19% and the S&P 500 fund SPY 1.27%, while small caps (IWM) lost 0.75%. On Friday the Dow led with +0.93% and the Nasdaq Composite closed at 27,068.72, up 0.48%.

The bond market kept the pressure on. The 30-year Treasury yield closed Friday at 5.504%, its highest close since 2004, and the 10-year at 5.184%. This morning Nasdaq futures are 0.79% lower and S&P futures 0.39% lower, Shanghai is down 1.93%, and bitcoin trades at 83,126.

  1. Seoul reopens 2.32% lower at 6,916.53; Samsung -4.56%, SK Hynix -4.40%; Kioxia -3.10% in Tokyo
  2. The spillover: SK Square -8.07%, Phison -4.06%, Ibiden -4.52%, Hanmi -3.69%, Nanya -2.33%; Disco, Advantest and ASE up
  3. Chip stocks +7.43% on the week (SOXX 572.68); Arm +12.59%, AMD +12.65%, Intel +13.26%; Nasdaq-100 +3.19%, S&P 500 +1.27%, small caps -0.75%
  4. The 30-year closed at 5.504%, its highest close since 2004; the 10-year 5.184%, the 5-year 5.007%; TLT -2.38% on the week
  5. Microsoft +3.66% to 516.17 on Friday, Meta -3.33% to 751.66; the Magnificent Seven fund MAGS +3.09% on the week
  6. Oracle down a third day: -1.75% to 137.10 on Friday, -7.12% on the week after the force majeure notice on its New Mexico campus
  7. Sectors on the week: technology +3.52% led, utilities -3.87%, energy -3.53%, real estate -2.28% and financials -1.83% lagged
  8. Oil funds fell on Friday (BNO -3.54% to 59.65, USO -3.11%); bitcoin 83,126 this morning; the yen weaker at 157.66
  9. AI Board: Rubin +5.1% on the week but 111 of its 126 names losing strength; 34 of 40 Agentic Winners getting stronger while that index is -0.1%
  10. This week: Cintas result scored today, Costco and BlackBerry Tuesday, Micron and core PCE Wednesday

  1. Seoul reopens 2.32% lower at 6,916.53; Samsung -4.56%, SK Hynix -4.40%; Kioxia -3.10% in Tokyo

    Outside view

    000660.KS005930.KSEWYMUDRAM

    What
    The Korean market was closed on Thursday and Friday for Chuseok. It reopened this morning and fell 2.32% to 6,916.53, below 7,000 again. Samsung Electronics fell 4.56% to 272,500 won and SK Hynix 4.40% to 1,780,000 won, the two largest companies on the Korean market. The selling was not only in Seoul. In Tokyo, the flash-memory maker Kioxia fell 3.10%, while the chip-equipment makers held up: Tokyo Electron +0.69%, Advantest +0.47%. The New York-listed Korea fund EWY had actually risen 2.55% on Friday while Seoul was shut, so this is not Seoul catching up with a fall it missed.
    If
    Samsung and SK Hynix close the day near their lows rather than recovering half the drop.
    Why
    Korea's two memory makers are the purest listed bet on the price of memory chips. When they fall together on a morning the equipment makers hold, the market is questioning the memory price, not the AI spending that buys the machines.
    Then
    Micron reports on Wednesday. Its outlook for memory prices is the next hard number on whether this morning was profit-taking or a change of view.

    Open the detail →

  2. The spillover: SK Square -8.07%, Phison -4.06%, Ibiden -4.52%, Hanmi -3.69%, Nanya -2.33%; Disco, Advantest and ASE up

    Structure

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    What
    Memory did not fall alone. Everything priced on the memory price followed Samsung and SK Hynix down: SK Square, the holding company that owns a fifth of SK Hynix, fell 8.07%. The flash-storage chain fell too - Kioxia -2.99% in Tokyo, the Taiwanese SSD-controller maker Phison -4.06%, Macronix -1.68%. Taiwan's DRAM maker Nanya lost 2.33%. Hanmi Semiconductor, which makes the bonding machines for stacked HBM memory, fell 3.69%, and the chip-substrate maker Ibiden 4.52%. The companies that sell tools to the whole industry held up: Disco (wafer grinding) +1.03%, Advantest (chip testing) +0.38%, Tokyo Electron +0.69%, and the packaging group ASE +0.87%. In New York on Friday the storage names had still risen - Western Digital +1.44%, Seagate +1.20%, SanDisk +1.38% - so they meet this morning's selling only at today's open.
    If
    Western Digital, Seagate and SanDisk open lower in New York while the equipment makers (Lam, Applied Materials) hold.
    Why
    Memory is not an isolated corner. Storage drives, SSD controllers, HBM equipment and chip substrates all sell into the same shortage, so a question about the memory price travels along that chain. The tool makers are different: they are paid for new capacity whatever the price does, which is why they held.
    Then
    The US open is the second test. Seagate rose 6.76% last week, Lam 9.41% and Applied Materials 9.09% - watch which side of that line they fall on.

    Open the detail →

  3. Token Split Pulse Chinese versus US model usage, measured in tokens — the demand side of the AI race, daily. See the split →

  4. Chip stocks +7.43% on the week (SOXX 572.68); Arm +12.59%, AMD +12.65%, Intel +13.26%; Nasdaq-100 +3.19%, S&P 500 +1.27%, small caps -0.75%

    Structure

    SOXXARMAMDINTCQQQIWM

    What
    Last week belonged to the chipmakers. The chip-stock fund SOXX rose 7.43% to 572.68. The designers and processor makers did best: Arm +12.59%, AMD +12.65%, Intel +13.26%. Micron added 6.54% and the memory fund DRAM 3.86%. Nvidia rose only 1.26% and Broadcom fell 1.34%. The broad market came along more slowly. QQQ gained 3.19%, SPY 1.27% and the Dow fund DIA 0.31%. The Russell 2000 fund IWM was the only major index fund lower on the week, down 0.75%.
    If
    SOXX gives back more than half of last week's gain before Micron's report.
    Why
    A 7% week in one industry while the broad market gains 1% is a narrow rally. Narrow rallies can run for a long time, but they depend on the few names doing the lifting.
    Then
    This morning's Seoul session is the first test of that week. Futures at 06:00 UTC: Nasdaq-100 -0.79%, S&P 500 -0.39%, Russell 2000 -0.60%, Dow -0.41% - the index with the most chip exposure is losing the most.

    Open the detail →

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C · point 11 · members

Today in line 11: the desk's diary on a Monday that tests last week - why Seoul sold its memory makers and the storage chain on the morning it reopened while the tool makers held, why the AI Board's count disagrees with the Rubin index's price, and what a 5.504% 30-year does to a chip rally that has run 7% in five days.

The privileged, actionable read — what we do, and at which level — is in point 11, for members only.

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