AI Trade — Kospi Falls 5.3%, SK Hynix 9.5% and Advantest 14.7% After Qualcomm; Hong Kong Rises 3.5%
Asia is where the AI trade shows first each morning, and this morning it sold it hard. Korea's Kospi never traded above Wednesday's close, fell as much as 6.1% and closed down 5.28% at 5,383.80; the selling set off the exchange's automatic curb on program sell orders, Investing.com reported. SK Hynix fell 9.5% and Samsung Electronics 7.6%. In Tokyo, Advantest lost 14.7% and Tokyo Electron 9.4%, and Taiwan's index fell 3.2%. Money did not leave the region: Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 3.5% and India's Nifty 50 2.2%.
The Rubin 100, our index of AI hardware makers, closed on Wednesday 33.9% under its 22 June high. Over the same period our two other indices split in two. AI Users closed at a record 1,034.79, up 19.1%. IT services rose 40.5%, research and drug development 35.1%, med devices 27.4% to a record, and exchanges, payments and food also rose. Nuclear, energy transition and space fell 24% to 34%, in step with Rubin. On Rubin's 40 worst days this year, IT services rose 31 times and food 29 times. If the fade lasts to year end, we watch health care, IT services, exchanges and everyday consumer names.