Gold Miners Smile, Chips Cry — Nasdaq Slips Harder This Afternoon

Right now the S&P500 is down 0.35% around 7,647 and the Nasdaq is off 0.69%, both grinding through the last stretch with about five hours left before the close. Compared to my last brief, both indexes have slipped a touch further, and with gold and copper miners holding up while chips and clean energy get sold, it's easy to see why the Nasdaq is taking the bigger hit. Traders seem to be bracing ahead of the Iran sanctions announcement, which has the Dow and Nasdaq pulling in different directions, while chatter about long-term rate pressure ahead of the Fed chair's Jackson Hole speech on the 28th is keeping everyone a little cautious. Yesterday's (8/24) KOSPI close was rougher — down 3.12% on heavy foreign futures selling — but that's a separate story from how today's US session is playing out. My own book is comfortable with Poongsan +19.0% and Samsung Electronics +3.1%, while KT&G -0.6% and Isu Petasys -8.4% stay in the red, and into the close I'm just watching whether more headlines land on the Iran sanctions or the Jackson Hole speech.