Morning wrap (24.02.2026)

• The recent AI-driven “scare trade” (investors selling risk assets over fears about AI disrupting businesses) appears to be cooling, however the yesterday US session was very weak.with DJIA dropping mor than 1,65% and Nasdaq 100 tanking 1,2%

• Yesterday, US software stocks bleeded again with IBM shares down 11% after publishing a new Anthropic Claude functions.

• Asian stocks moved higher even as US markets had just slipped, with US equity-index futures up about 0.2%, while European stocks were also set for a firmer open.

• Traders rotated into chipmakers as the “picks and shovels” of the AI supply chain; SK Hynix, Samsung, and TSMC hit new highs.

• The Asian strength follows Monday’s US decline, led by drops in tech, delivery, and payment names after Citrini Research flagged potential AI risks across industries.

• The selloff was made worse by lingering uncertainty around Trump-related tariff risks.

• Regional performance highlights: South Korea +2%, Taiwan +2.7%, and China rose after reopening from Lunar New Year. However, the precious metals are down amid Shanghain exchange reopen.

• Gold and silver fell after a four-day gains, and Treasuries gave back some gains as haven demand eased.

• Overall, the MSCI Asia Pacific Index recovered earlier losses and was up about 0.2%.

• Bitcoin is down 2% and is fluctuating around $63,000 level after the sell-off. 

• Trump Admin believes China's DeepSeek used Nvidia's most advanced AI chip to train its latest model. 

(summary in progress)