Global wave of selling as traders flee tech stocks—and futures signal bloodbath will continue

Nvidia's Jensen Huang to AI doomers: If you fear it, quit

In a recent interview with Fortune's Jeremy Kahn and Bea Nolan, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang addressed concerns about existential risks in artificial intelligence, notably arising from figures like Dario Amodei of Anthropic. Huang firmly stated that the technology is "completely in our control." He challenged those who fear the implications of AI, saying, "I don't know why anybody would want to support the advancement of a technology that's going to result, you know, in the end of human civilization as we know it. And so, if they believe that, they really ought to stop working on it."

Global wave of selling as traders flee tech stocks

In a decisive move, traders have turned against technology stocks over the past day, prompting a global selloff. The KOSPI index in South Korea, heavily weighted towards tech, plummeted by 7.57%, even triggering a temporary trading halt. Nasdaq futures were reported down 1.03% this morning, indicating a continuation of this trend as markets prepare to open in New York. Shares of CoreWeave dropped 15.46% yesterday, with further losses of 5.89% overnight. Oracle's stock fell by 8.83%, followed by an additional decline of 1.57% in after-hours trading. Overall, chipmakers faced broad declines.

Interestingly, this wave of selling occurred despite positive news for the sector. Chipmaker TSMC announced third-quarter earnings that exceeded expectations and indicated plans to increase capital expenditures over the next two years. In parallel, Apple saw its stock close at an all-time high, making it only the second company, alongside Nvidia, to achieve a $5 trillion market capitalization. Moreover, Anthropic revealed that it had become profitable on an adjusted basis, despite its revenue growth of $17 billion in Q3 being slower than prior projections.

The turbulence extended into the bond market, where investor sentiment wavered regarding the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury's status as a safe haven versus its risk premium. The bond yield reached as high as 5.32% before retreating to 5.08% this morning, marking a significant fluctuation for an otherwise stable asset.

Market Snapshot:

• S&P 500 futures experienced a decline of 0.24% this morning, following a 1.11% drop yesterday.
• In Europe, the Stoxx 600 slipped by 0.10% in early trading, whereas the U.K.'s FTSE 100 saw an increase of 0.48% shortly before lunch.
• In Asia, South Korea's KOSPI fell by 7.57%, Japan's Nikkei 225 decreased by 4.90%, India's Nifty 50 rose by 1.68%, and China's CSI 300 dropped by 1.23%.
• Brent crude was priced at $106 per barrel.
• Bitcoin's value fell to $81,265.

Ignore all their complaining, Europeans are secretly very happy

Research from ING's Marieke Blom reveals that a significant 76% of Europeans harbor optimism about their futures. Interestingly, the happiest among them are the Danes and Slovenians, while the French, despite being the least optimistic, still show that 62% are satisfied with their outlook.

Blom points out that this perception is intriguing, given that news coverage across Europe often emphasizes its numerous challenges. An analysis over a span of 35 years by the Wall Street Journal indicates that negative events garner far more attention than positive developments, leading to an overall skewed representation of European sentiments.

Number of the Day: 59%

A poll tracked by Goldman Sachs analysts James Moberly and Sven Jari Stehn indicates that 59% of British citizens now express a desire to rejoin the European Union. Their analysis suggests that Brexit has cost the U.K. approximately 6% of its GDP to date.

Americans eat 10 pounds of avocados per year, on average

Historically, avocado consumption in the United States was minimal prior to 1993. The federal government only allowed the importation of Mexican avocados into certain states that year, and it wasn't until 1997 that the USDA permitted Mexican Hass avocados in 19 northeastern states for part of the year. Full-year access to avocados in all 50 states commenced on February 1, 2007.

Since the 1990s, per-capita avocado consumption in America has surged sevenfold, escalating from 424 million pounds in 1998/99 to an anticipated 3.25 billion pounds in 2024/25. This equates to roughly 9.5 pounds of avocados consumed annually per person, a significant increase from just 1.52 pounds in 1998/99.