In early trading today, the Japanese and South Korean stock markets opened low. The Nikkei 225 Index fell 1.37%, then expanded to more than 2%. Chugai Pharmaceuticals fell more than 2%, Sony and ITOCHU Corporation fell nearly 2%; the Korea Composite Index fell 1.1%, SK Hynix fell nearly 5%, and Samsung Electronics fell nearly 3%. So what just happened? Analysts believe there are two main reasons: the first is that semiconductors have a huge disadvantage. Dutch semiconductor equipment giant ASML's third-quarter orders fell far short of expectations and lowered sales forecasts for 2025, dragging down semiconductor stocks such as Nvidia and TSMC ADR. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index plummeted by more than 5%. Semiconductors were also the main driver in the Asia-Pacific market this morning. Second, a soft landing is intertwined with inflation expectations. According to the latest survey released by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York on Tuesday, US consumers' debt arrears expectations rose to a new high since April 2020 in September, and they also expect long-term inflation expectations to rise.

In early trading today, the Japanese and South Korean stock markets opened low. The Nikkei 225 Index fell 1.37%, then expanded to more than 2%. Chugai Pharmaceuticals fell more than 2%, Sony and ITOCHU Corporation fell nearly 2%; the Korea Composite Index fell 1.1%, SK Hynix fell nearly 5%, and Samsung Electronics fell nearly 3%. So what just happened? Analysts believe there are two main reasons: the first is that semiconductors have a huge disadvantage. Dutch semiconductor equipment giant ASML's third-quarter orders fell far short of expectations and lowered sales forecasts for 2025, dragging down semiconductor stocks such as Nvidia and TSMC ADR. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index plummeted by more than 5%. Semiconductors were also the main driver in the Asia-Pacific market this morning. Second, a soft landing is intertwined with inflation expectations. According to the latest survey released by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York on Tuesday, US consumers' debt arrears expectations rose to a new high since April 2020 in September, and they also expect long-term inflation expectations to rise.