Welcome to Markets Desk, here's where things stand.
Risk-off sentiment is dominating the tape this Friday as Bitcoin slipped below eighty-one thousand five hundred dollars, dragged lower by a broad tech sell-off that crossed the Pacific overnight. South Korea's Kospi shed two point three percent, Japan's Nikkei fell one point six, and the contagion shows no sign of stabilizing heading into the weekend.
Staying in Asia, SK Hynix is feeling additional pressure after the chipmaker scrapped its plans for a U.S. initial public offering of Solidigm. The company cited market volatility and share price concerns for shelving the deal, a telling signal that appetite for new listings remains fragile in this environment, and a setback for Hynix's broader strategy to monetize its NAND assets.
On the biotech side, a brighter note. Aardvark Therapeutics surged sixteen percent after the FDA lifted a clinical hold on its drug ARD-one-oh-one, which targets hyperphagia associated with Prader-Willi syndrome. The removal of that regulatory barrier clears the path for clinical trials to resume, a meaningful catalyst for a company at this early stage of development.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
