South Korea calls emergency meeting as its stock market crashes
Markets are shaky as a Korean stock crash, a chip selloff, renewed war with Iran, and a Fed decision all hit at once — bad news for investors.
- South Korea's market has plunged, down 16% in two days, and the government called an emergency meeting to figure out what's happening.
- Regulators are blaming easy access to leveraged funds that let regular people borrow heavily to bet on stocks, and may cap that leverage.
- Chip stocks worldwide lost over a trillion dollars on fears China could build its own chip gear and cut other countries out.
- Oil jumped past $90 after Trump vowed to hit Iran hard following what the US called a surprise Iranian missile attack.
- Layoffs are spreading, with BMW cutting 8,000 jobs and Visa cutting thousands more.
Outlook: With the Fed decision, the Iran conflict, and the Korean crash all landing the same week, more market pain looks likely near-term.