Overnight Korean Selloff Extends to US Tech Stocks: June 23, 2026

A circuit breaker selloff in South Korea is extending to US tech stocks because investors are worried that the AI rally may be due for a breather. The volatility is centered on memory providers, an area that has carried the lion’s share of equity gains this year, as a local report signaled that chip maker SK Hynix is redirecting its efforts to cheaper, interchangeable products. The adverse development coincides with certain notable customers recently complaining that the technologies have become unreasonably expensive, which is raising slowdown anxiety tied to the potential for firms to increasingly limit capital expenditures. But sinking interest rates alongside upbeat economic data stemming from ADP’s weekly jobs print and this month’s flash PMIs from S&P Global are bolstering cyclical equities, even though the Dow Jones is the only major benchmark advancing against the backdrop of 7 of the 11 principal sectors climbing. Despite yields falling in response to this morning’s publications depicting an outlook of softening price pressures, the greenback is much stronger, as its safe-haven characteristics offset the bearish currency impact of lightening borrowing costs. Risk-off sentiments are also prevalent in the retreating cryptocurrency and commodity complexes amidst rising hedging demand with index downside protection instruments seeing heavier premiums. Elsewhere, prediction markets are catching bids.

US Manufacturing Growth Accelerates

Economic activity is increasingly being carried by manufacturing as weak consumer sentiment driven by heavy cost pressures and elevated interest rates weighs on the services industry. This morning’s June Flash Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) from S&P Global printed the strongest factory expansion in 49 months of 55.7. Robust ordering, buoyant output yields and sharp inventory builds coincided with slower delivery times in light of a leaner workforce and firm transaction flows. The print surpassed the 54.8 expected and 55.1 from the prior period. Services improved only slightly as sluggish shopper momentum supported a figure of 51.3, loftier than both the 51 projected and the 50.7 in May. Business outlooks were better in both segments. Survey respondents cheered cheaper oil prices amidst substantial progress made on the US-Iran front. They also reacted positively to an uptick in relative certainty while lowering future inflation expectations.

Private-Sector Employees Expand Their Payrolls

Private sector hiring accelerated at the beginning of the month as a pickup in economic activity continued to support a rebound in job growth. Businesses added an average of 30.75k employees in each of the four weeks during the period that ended June 6, strengthening from the 26.5k in the prior print, according to ADP. The headline number signals a monthly run rate of around 132k, which is consistent with subdued unemployment and healthy cyclical momentum. 

Duration Looks Increasingly Attractive as Potential Inversion Looms

With May’s 4.2% Consumer Price Index print poised to be the peak of annualized cost pressures in the US and slowdown anxiety resurfacing, Treasuries with minimum maturities of 10-years currently offer favorable risk-reward dynamics, in my opinion. With inflation retreating back to a 3-handle in June against the backdrop of tumbling fuel charges, slowing rent increases and decelerating housing valuations, duration can slip 30 basis points from here quickly. Additionally, fixed-income hedges equity portfolios that could experience some meaningful volatility if fears about substantial AI’s expenses and their uncertain return prospects worsen. Finally, an increasingly hawkish Kevin Warsh may even generate an inversion across the yield curve driven by a sharp climb in the shorter tenors, boding well for the long end of the complex, as bond vigilantes bet that the economy and market alike can’t withstand too many rate hikes. The debt compound is already in its flattest formation in 15 months.

International Roundup

Eurozone Contraction Slows

Economic contraction in the eurozone continued this month but at a slightly slower rate than during May with the S&P Global Flash Eurozone PMI Composite climbing from 48.5 to 49.5, a three-month high but below the contraction-expansion threshold of 50. In June, manufacturing continued to be a burden with the Composite index’s gain resulting from the Flash Eurozone Services PMI Business Activity Index ascending to 48.9, another three-month high and up 2.2 points from May. Meanwhile, the Flash Eurozone Manufacturing PMI and its output counterpart fell from 51.6 and 51.3 to 51.3 and 51.2, which are four-month and five-month lows.

Companies continued to face challenges with securing new orders, which declined for the fourth consecutive month despite a marginal increase in requests for manufactured items. On a positive note, input inflation rose rapidly despite easing to its slowest pace in February. Output price pressures also slowed. In other areas, employment failed to register growth for the sixth consecutive month despite a marginal increase in the services industry. The gains were offset by cuts in manufacturing. Looking ahead, confidence ticked higher in both services and manufacturing but was still muted. Stronger sentiment in France helped counter a decline in Germany.

Japan Economic Expansion Accelerates

Japan’s business activity strengthened in June with the S&P Global Flash Japan Composite PMI Output Index climbing from 51.1 to 52.5. Gains were fairly broad among the flash indexes as follows:

• Services PMI Business Activity Index, up 1.8 points to 51.8
• Manufacturing PMI, up 0.4 points to 54.9
• Manufacturing PMI Output Index, up 0.3 points to 54

Manufacturing and services businesses reported firm demand and growing backlogs of orders, prompting firms to expand their payrolls. Average selling prices, however, increased in response to higher input costs. At the same time, forecasts for the coming 12 months were muted by the Middle East crisis creating concerns about supply chain disruptions and inflation.

Singapore’s Monthly Price Pressure Heats Up

Prices in Singapore’s climbed 0.7% month over month (m/m) during May after falling 0.3% in April, according to the Consumer Price Index (CPI). The annualized metric along with its core counterpart, however, was unchanged with the two gauges climbing 1.8% and 1.4%. Economists anticipated y/y increases of 2% and 1.6% for the headline and core measurements. The m/m print was pushed up by the 2.4% spike in the housing and utilities category. Within this group, utilities and other fuels fell by 0.1% but the accommodation classification climbed by 2.7%. The health category followed with a 0.5% ascent with health insurance becoming 1.9% more costly than in the preceding month. The transport category and the food and beverage services segments, furthermore, climbed 0.3% and 0.2%. Conversely, prices for foods and beverages from stores sank 0.4% and the information and communications segment dropped 1.5%. 

Hong Kong Inflation Picks Up

The Hong Kong CPI was up 2% y/y in May following the 1.7% April print. The m/m version, which was down 0.1% in April, was flat in May.

Contributors to the y/y increase and the extent of their price changes were as follows:

• Electricity, gas and water, 6.6%
• Transport, 5.1%
• Miscellaneous services, 5.1%
• Miscellaneous goods, 2.9%
• Alcoholic drinks and tobacco, 2.5%
• Housing, 1.1%
• Clothing and footwear, 1.0%
• Meals out and takeaway food, 0.8
• Basic food, 0.4%

Durable goods, however, were 1.2% cheaper.