S&P 500 down 0.60% at the open, a notch lower than my last note

Right now the S&P 500 sits at 7,772.16, down 0.60%, and the Nasdaq at 27,365.81, down 0.85%. Against my 04:40 note, the S&P 500 has slipped another 1.24 points and the Nasdaq 1.39 points. It looked calm earlier, but once the opening bell rang the whole table tilted a notch.

Oil at $100 and a jump in Treasury yields hit chips first

I'm picking one thread for the cause. The pre-market previews said futures fell on $100 oil and surging US Treasury yields, and chip stocks were weak across the board. Tech had rallied the day before on AI optimism, so when yields jumped, the give-back landed hardest there. That's how I read the Nasdaq falling more than the S&P 500.

The sector map tells the same story. Utilities and cybersecurity are holding up, while biotech is getting pushed down. The rate-sensitive corners took the first hit. The dollar index is at 101.83, down 0.33%, and the won is at 1,343.75 per dollar, up 0.09%, so FX isn't doing much shaking.

Korea took the hit first, and the US is following

On the already-closed Korean session of 10/7, the KOSPI ended down 1.98% and the KOSDAQ down 2.34%. The US printed record highs overnight and Korea went the opposite way. Now the US is drifting down behind it, so I'd say today's session picked up that thread.

My disclosed holdings stand at Microsoft +33.5%, NVIDIA +11.5%, Freeport-McMoRan +5.7% and Amazon -11.3%. Those are cumulative gains and losses, not today's moves.

There are 6 hours 20 minutes until the close. I'm watching two things: whether Treasury yields and oil hold at these levels, and whether the -0.60% and -0.85% gaps widen or narrow through the morning. Whether an early drop carries into the close, I honestly don't know. I'll put these numbers back on the table in the next note.