Chips slump, gold jumps — the indexes are clawing back a bit of the drop

Right now the S&P 500 sits at 7,661.77 (-0.16%) and the Nasdaq at 26,081.19 (-0.38%) — both red, but each has clawed back some ground versus an hour ago, up 0.19 and 0.31 points respectively from the last brief. Semiconductors and clean energy are still leading the weak side, and it looks like yesterday's 8.7% plunge in Samsung Electronics plus Micron's own 6.8% slide, with foreigners dumping shares, is still casting a shadow over chip sentiment here in the US today. On the other side of the board, gold and copper miners are strong — Kevin Warsh's Jackson Hole speech reignited worries about Fed independence, and gold just hit a three-month high on the back of it. Yesterday's Kospi drop of 3.12% (with only the Kosdaq holding up at +1.42%) was really the same chip shock playing out in Seoul, and on my own book, ConocoPhillips sits at +5.4%, Schlumberger at -1.2%, Microsoft at +23.7%, and Nvidia at -0.9%. With about three hours left to the close, I'll be watching whether chips deepen the slide or keep clawing it back like they're doing right now.