Chips Trip Up the Open Right Out of the Gate

Right now the S&P 500 sits at 7,709.53 (-0.98%) and the Nasdaq at 26,388.43 (-1.27%) — both opened lower on fresh US-Iran tension headlines. The slide's gotten steeper since my last brief four hours ago (S&P down another -0.52pp, Nasdaq -0.99pp), and it's chip stocks doing the damage — New York semis got hit hard pre-market on rate and oil worries, with SK Hynix's ADR tumbling 6%, dragging the Nasdaq down with it. Yesterday's Korean session (close 8/18) was rough too — KOSPI -1.55%, KOSDAQ -3.52% — so today's New York open is basically carrying that same weak mood forward. It's a split tape sector-wise, fintech and quantum names up while cybersecurity and copper/miners lag, and in my own book Eaton (-3.0%) and Vertex (-2.1%) are under water while ConocoPhillips (+1.4%) and Schlumberger (+1.1%) are holding up. I'll be watching whether the chip selloff deepens before tomorrow's Fed minutes drop, right through to the close.