US stocks opened lower Friday as broad tech weakness hit markets. The
Philadelphia Semiconductor Index is more than 20% below its record closing high
and looks set to confirm a bear market. SK Hynix ADR fell below its $149 issue
price for the first time. SpaceX shares are down about 38% from their peak,
erasing roughly $1 trillion of peak value. AMD dropped over 7%, Intel over 6%,
and TSMC over 5%. Analysts say the chip rout has exceeded fundamentals and is
driven more by fund/style rotation than company-level news. Hawkish signals from
Fed officials pushed up rate-hike expectations: Fed chair Kevin Warsh’s critical
remarks on inflation at a hearing tightened markets, while other Fed officials
signalled hawkish intent — Fed official Logan explicitly called for hikes and
Fed official Schmid warned the risk of inflation accelerating in coming months
remains. Continued uncertainty over US‑Iran war prospects has also dented risk
appetite.