KOSPI plunges 4.91%, circuit breaker Oil jumps on Hormuz tanker strikes

According to Financial News, when KOSPI's intraday drop exceeded 8% on July 7, a morning sidecar was followed by the year's sixth circuit breaker at 1:51 p.m. The index closed down 4.91% at 7,656.31.

According to News1, on July 8 (KST) Argentina trailed Egypt 0-2 before scoring three second-half goals to win 3-2. Messi added a goal and an assist for his 21st World Cup goal and a first-ever six-straight-knockout scoring streak; Argentina next face Switzerland.

According to Seoul Shinmun, the revised Information and Communications Network Act took effect July 7, imposing up to five times the damages for knowingly spreading disinformation. Simple expressions of opinion, private messages such as on KakaoTalk, and political satire are excluded from regulation.

According to TheStreet, on July 7 the Nasdaq closed down 1.16% at 25,818.69, the S&P 500 off 0.45% at 7,503.85, and the Dow down 0.25% at 52,925.15. On views that Samsung's results fell short, Micron dropped 4.7% and the VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) fell more than 3%.

According to Business Korea, KOSPI closed down 395.02 points (4.91%) at 7,656.31 on July 7. Profit-taking in large-cap chips sent Samsung down 6.92% and SK Hynix down 6.06%; foreign investors net-sold 2.9174 trillion won while retail investors net-bought 3.1325 trillion won.

According to Seoul Shinmun, Samsung posted a record Q2 operating profit of 89.4 trillion won, above forecasts, but profit-taking after the print sent it down 6.92%. SK Hynix also fell 6.06%, with the two chip giants leading the index's plunge.

According to Herald Muse, Lee So-ra released the single 'I'll Forget Your Face (Summer Breeze)' on July 7. Excluding soundtracks, it is her first formal new song since 2019's 'Song Request,' with Jannabi's Choi Jung-hoon writing the track and Cho Kyu-chan handling vocal direction.

According to Herald Muse, MONSTA X's Kihyun released his second mini-album 'BORDERLINE' at 6 p.m. on July 7, his first solo return since 'YOUTH' in October 2022. The seven-track album is led by the title song 'So Good.'

According to Money Today, Samsung reported record Q2 results on July 7 of 171 trillion won in revenue and 89.4 trillion won in operating profit. Hankook Ilbo noted that operating profit exceeded Nvidia's recent quarterly $53.5 billion, driven by demand for AI-infrastructure HBM and memory.

According to Bloomberg, a Bloomberg Intelligence survey published July 7 found Chinese firms plan to allocate 46% of AI-accelerator budgets to domestic products over the next 12 months, up sharply from 30% now. Eighty percent of respondents said this year's AI infrastructure spending is exceeding budget.

According to TechCrunch, New York-based legal and compliance AI startup Norm Ai raised a $120M Series C led by Khosla Ventures, reaching a $1.2 billion valuation. Bain, Craft Ventures, and Coatue participated, bringing total funding past $260 million.

According to TokenPost, as of 12:07 a.m. on the 8th, Bitcoin traded at $63,512, up 2.29%, and Ethereum rose 1.90% to $1,786. Total market cap stood at about $2.1916 trillion, and Bitcoin dominance was 58.12%.

According to CoinDesk, US spot Bitcoin ETFs drew $265.69 million in net inflows on Monday — the largest daily inflow in over a month — with BlackRock's IBIT taking in $209.40 million. Ether ETFs also saw $20.66 million in inflows the same day.

According to GlobeNewswire, the US FDA granted accelerated approval to Vera Therapeutics' atacicept (brand name Trutakna) to reduce proteinuria in adults with primary IgA nephropathy. The first dual-target therapy inhibiting both BAFF and APRIL, given as a once-weekly subcutaneous injection, it showed a 42% reduction in proteinuria versus placebo at week 36.

According to Sports Kyunghyang, the film 'Pupil' drew 43,650 viewers on the 6th to retake the daily box-office top spot from 'Toy Story 5.' Cumulative admissions reached 886,348, nearing 1 million, in the suspense thriller where Shin Min-a plays a dual role as Seo-jin, who is losing her sight, and her twin Seo-in.

According to Sports Kyunghyang, the MBC daily drama 'Family Register,' starring Park Se-young, opened July 6 with a nationwide rating of 4.3% (peak 4.7%, Nielsen Korea), topping its time slot. It centers on hidden wounds behind a seemingly perfect family and school-violence trauma.

According to Financial News, President Lee Jae-myung held his first in-person meeting with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte in Ankara on July 7, entering the summit's schedule. The two sides announced the start of talks on a 'NATO procurement framework agreement,' and Lee promoted Korean defense exports in a keynote at a defense forum.

According to The Moscow Times, Ukraine launched an overnight assault on Moscow with more than 430 drones. Moscow's mayor called it the largest such attack in two years, and Zelensky signaled more strikes, ahead of this week's NATO summit in Ankara.

According to Financial News, after three tankers including a Qatari LNG carrier and a Saudi crude carrier were struck in the Strait of Hormuz on the 7th and the US revoked Iran's oil-sales license, September Brent settled up 3.01% at $74.16 and August WTI up 2.76% at $70.44 — the largest single-day gains since June 1.

According to ZDNet Korea, while a mechanism for up to 5x damages is now in place, the standard for judging manipulated information is vague, raising concerns platforms may 'delete first.' Experts said clear guidelines and a transparent appeals process are needed.