Semiconductors fell 8.24 percent to 471.51 dollars, the largest move in the tables, with Broadcom down 5.48 percent to 326.08 dollars, Nvidia down 4.22 percent and the tech sector down 4.89 percent. This morning’s technology reporting reads the selloff as the market pricing the AI builders’ funding rather than the buildout’s demand: Samsung’s record third quarter, with chip profit at an all-time high, shows memory demand rationed and sold forward even as the shares that finance the expansion were marked down (see today’s Samsung record Q3 story).
Brent crude fell 7.77 percent to 108.50 dollars a barrel and WTI fell 4.49 percent to 99.45 dollars. Part of the Brent figure is an artefact: the December contract expired Friday at 117.64 dollars and the January front month settled at 113.43 dollars, so the table’s change spans the contract roll. The underlying Monday fall, about 3 to 5 percent depending on the print, came as Iranian and Qatari officials held a third straight day of talks on ending the war and OPEC+ held December output targets steady on Sunday (see today’s Iran and Qatar talks story and the updated OPEC+ story).
The miners were sold as a block. Silver miners fell 5.58 percent, uranium miners 5.57 percent, gold miners 5.21 percent, copper miners 5.19 percent and rare earth miners 5.12 percent, with BHP down 3.25 percent. The metals themselves did not follow: gold futures rose 0.38 percent to 3,913.60 dollars in the same tables and silver settled higher on Friday, which this morning’s mining reporting identifies as equity-led liquidation rather than a commodity move (see today’s miners selloff story).
Bonds rallied while equities fell. The US 5-year yield dropped 8 basis points to 4.72 percent and the 10-year dropped 6 basis points to 4.93 percent, even as the tech sector fell 4.89 percent, a flight-to-quality pattern ahead of a week in which seven central banks decide (see today’s Australia home prices story).
The cross-market read is risk-off in the crowded trades and relief in the war trade at the same time. Liquidation hit semiconductors and every mining complex together on Friday, dip buyers lifted gold and silver off a one-year low on Monday, tanker freight still rose 2.05 percent on the day and 8.06 percent on the week because Hormuz transit remains impaired, and natural gas rose 1.38 percent to 2.94 dollars against a record speculative short. Whether the equity liquidation is finished is the open question the tables cannot answer; Tuesday’s midterms and the RBA decision are the first scheduled tests.