Asian Markets Plunge After US Inflation Shock

Asian markets plunged Thursday, with South Korea's KOSPI down 7.74 percent and Japan's Nikkei 225 down 4.10 percent, following a Wall Street collapse driven by higher-than-expected US inflation data. The selloff extended across the region, with Hong Kong's Hang Seng down 0.62 percent, Singapore's Straits Times down 0.83 percent, and Shanghai's main index down 1.36 percent. US stocks fell for a third straight day, with the S&P 500 dropping 1.1 percent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq falling 1.9 percent. Analysts pointed to leveraged ETFs and credit risks in AI infrastructure as key concerns. Higher US inflation raised expectations of Federal Reserve intervention, hitting AI-sensitive companies like Oracle and CoreWeave that are vulnerable to increased borrowing costs.