Welcome to Markets Desk, here's what's moving right now.
Asian tech took a hard hit overnight as the Wall Street chip sell-off crossed the Pacific. SK Hynix and SoftBank led the losses, with semiconductor names broadly under pressure. When U.S. chip stocks stumble, regional exposure is deep and the reaction tends to be swift and unforgiving.
Pulling back to the macro picture, the IMF lifted its two thousand twenty six global growth forecast to three point one percent, crediting AI investment with helping absorb the energy shock from the ongoing war. But the fund issued a sharp warning alongside that upgrade — top economies are tracking toward their largest budget deficits since the Covid era, and the IMF is calling the situation urgent, pressing governments to rebuild fiscal buffers before the next shock arrives.
Meanwhile, crypto markets are nursing serious damage. Bitcoin slid below eighty two thousand dollars as liquidations surged past seven hundred seventy one million dollars in a single twenty four hour window, with the overwhelming majority of that coming from long positions getting wiped. It's a reminder that leveraged crypto exposure remains acutely vulnerable when broader risk sentiment turns.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
