[Young journalist Choi Jion] As investment sentiment toward risky assets such as stocks weakens due to the high valuation of the artificial intelligence (AI) industry, both the domestic and international stock markets, as well as the virtual asset (cryptocurrency) market, are plunging. 

At the same time, the won(KRW)/dollar exchange rate is surging, indicating a decrease in the value of the won. As of November 5th, 2:08 PM, the KOSPI recorded 3,985.25, down 3.31% from the previous day, falling below the 4,000 point level during intraday trading. 

The trigger was the decline in the New York stock market last night, driven by concerns over the overvaluation of AI stocks. Risk avoidance is now spreading throughout the broader market. 

Jeeyoung Han from Kiwoom Securities explained “As macroeconomic uncertainty and volatility in the U.S. AI-related stocks intertwine in the short term, additional net selling may occur, particularly in semiconductor stocks that had previously shown strong gains.” 

On November 4 (local time), the Dow Jones Industrial Average and Standard and Poor’s 500 fell by 0.53% and 1.17%, respectively, while the tech-focused Nasdaq Composite plunged 2.04%.

Although AI-based enterprise software company Palantir Technologies reported strong earnings that exceeded Wall Street expectations and even raised its performance outlook, its stock still dropped 7.94%. 

The sharp decline of Palantir’s stock has led to chilled investor sentiment toward other AI-related stocks. Nvidia, the leading stock of AI chips, fell 3.96% and AMD, another AI chip manufacturer, also dropped 3.70%.

Tesla plunged 5.15%, while other major AI-related tech companies such as Alphabet (-2.16%), Broadcom (-2.81%), Amazon(-1.83%), Meta (-1.59%) and Oracle (-3.75%) were also weak Some experts have warned that the current bubble in AI-related stocks could be even more severe than during the “dot-com bubble.” As risk-averse sentiment spreads throughout the market, the won/dollar exchange rate is rising, indicating a decline in the value of the Korean won. 

In the Seoul foreign exchange market, the won/dollar exchange rate was trading at 1447.60won, up 0.49% (7.10won) from the previous day. The crypto market is also on a downward trend. 

Bitcoin fell below $100,000 for the first time since June. On the same day, its price in Korean currency dropped below 150 million won. At the domestic crypto exchange Upbit, Bitcoin was trading at 152.241 million won, down 0.41% from the previous day.

▶원문 기사: 공포의 수요일…주식·코인·환율, 모두 '와르르' (이코노미스트, 2025. 11.5)
 

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