Nasdaq -2.05%: A 3.7% Inflation Print Shakes the Table Again

Right now the S&P 500 sits at 7,699.46, down 1.36%, and the Nasdaq at 26,646.68, down 2.05%. Against my last brief (01:40), the S&P 500 has slipped another 0.34 points and the Nasdaq another 0.48. A calm tape is getting heavier by the hour, tech first.

Oil pushed inflation back to 3.7%

The root is inflation. Pricier oil lifted US prices to 3.7% again, reviving talk of another rate hike that had faded after the soft jobs data earlier this month. Gold falling 1.6% on sticky inflation is the same story from another angle. When rates may stay high for longer, expensive growth names take the first hit.

AI bubble worries piled on top. CoreWeave plunged 17% intraday and Dell dropped 10%. Sector flow tells the same tale: energy and staples are firm, clean energy and semiconductors are weak. A report of small caps down 5.57% suggests the strength under the index is thin.

Korea already took its hit

The settled close of the 10/14 Korean session was KOSPI -0.44% and KOSDAQ -1.57%. Today's US session picks up that weakness. The won at 1,334.13 per dollar (-0.50%) and the dollar index at 102.18 (-0.39%) have actually eased. My public holdings stand at Microsoft +35.1%, Coca-Cola +5.4%, Procter & Gamble +4.4%, HD Hyundai Heavy +0.5%. That's unrealized P&L, not today's move.

With 1 hour 50 minutes to the close, I'm watching two things. One is whether the Nasdaq widens beyond -2.05% or whether the semiconductor losses narrow. The other is whether rate-hike expectations settle after the shock of the print. I want to see if a slide that grew from the last brief starts to bend before the bell.