The Economist analyzed the lyrics of the national anthems of every country competing in the World Cup to see who has the most violent anthem and which country was referenced the most in other nations’ anthems. Spain, which appeared in three other countries’ national anthems, was the most disliked by other countries based on their analysis. An AI rout dragged down the S&P 500, Nasdaq 100, and Russell 2000 yesterday as investors rotated out of tech and into defensive sectors: consumer staples, health care, and utilities were among the top performers, along with real estate. |
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- South Korea’s Kospi is dominated by SK Hynix and Samsung, two of the three members of the high-bandwidth memory triumvirate along with Micron (which reports earnings after the bell today).
- An eagerness to embrace risk in a bid to get rich quick is not a uniquely American phenomenon. South Koreans love leverage.
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Data from the Korea Financial Investment Association shows that margin loans have been going straight up and to the right. Total assets in 11 Korean-listed ETFs that boast single-stock leveraged exposure to Samsung or SK Hynix in their fund names are up from under $3 billion since their launches less than a month ago, touching north of $10 billion heading into the most recent session.
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So, to a certain extent, Korea’s world-beating rally is fueled by using borrowed funds to make leveraged bets. Leverage squared!
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Either way, high-flying AI stocks all took a big dive, along with Micron, including Sandisk, Corning, Applied Optoelectronics, Western Digital, Marvell, ASML, Arista, and Seagate.
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The twists and turns of leveraged ETFs linked to the Kospi as a whole are heavily skewed by the performance of these heavily-weighted members. What caused this rout? Who knows.
High leverage means you don’t (or shouldn’t) have to think too hard about why massive moves happen, particularly when nobody was asking too many pointed questions about why these same stocks were seemingly going up 5% per day in perpetuity. Play with matches and you get burned, or, worst case, start a fire. |
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Want the inside look on the stats, data, and insights going on in sports? Looking for the numbers behind the biggest stories in the World Cup? Interested in prediction markets and how to make money there? Check out Snacks’ newsletter Scoreboard. For instance, in yesterday’s Scoreboard:
Because all NBA blockbusters must happen in the middle of the night — I think Adam Silver formally added that to the league rulebook a few years ago — the big NBA news on Monday night going into Tuesday was not the draft, but rather a superstar on the move. Giannis Antetokounmpo has been traded from the Milwaukee Bucks to the Miami Heat in a six-player megadeal. Is all this superstar hubbub worth it in a league where unheralded teams keep winning?
Maybe less than it used to be, but Giannis is still a needle-mover — over the past three seasons, he was tied with Kawhi Leonard (who markets say has just a 35% chance of staying with the Clippers) for the third-largest on-court impact according to my LAKER impact ratings, trailing only MVPs Nikola Jokić and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
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The investor’s challenge: Navigating evolving market trends |
Structural themes continue to influence the global economy and financial markets. Learn more about these big trends at play underneath the market surface and the potential implications for investors’ portfolios
Read about the three big themes |
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It’s a huge day of simultaneous group stage matches in the World Cup, games that will finalize which teams advance to the knockout rounds.
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