Asian investors, either very brave or very foolish, are back to buying the dip on Tuesday and most regional indices are bouncing. News Iran and Israel had agreed to halt attacks on each other for now, helped the mood and pulled oil prices lower.
South Korea's Kospi is up almost 5%, having shed 8% on Monday, and is still up a trifling 83% for the year. Its bull run has sucked in more and more retail investors who are borrowing to buy and thus vulnerable to margin calls.
A recent Bank of Korea report showed leveraged investment into equities by retail investors topped a record 60 trillion won ($39.06 billion) as of the end of May, including through ETFs leveraged to chipmakers.
Gantry cranes stand near stacked shipping containers at Yangshan Port outside Shanghai, China, May 7, 2026. REUTERS/Go Nakamura
Chinese shares were aided by data showing exports rose 19% in May from a year earlier, with imports climbing 27% as both beat market forecasts. The rise in imports is all the more impressive given imports of oil are down 29% on a year ago and running at the lowest daily pace since 2018.
The Asian giant's surplus with the United States amounts to almost $114 billion so far this year, which is actually a little higher than the same period in 2025 despite all of President Donald Trump's efforts with tariffs and trade hurdles.
European stock futures are modestly in the red, while Wall Street futures inched up, having been saved overnight by demand for semiconductor stocks. Much of the buying was in just five stocks and more than 60% of the S&P 500 ended lower.
Graphics are produced by Reuters
NEXT BIG TEST
The next big test for tech will be results from Oracle on Wednesday and Adobe the day after.
Apple shares failed to get any initial boost from a long-delayed AI overhaul of Siri, unveiled at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference.
ChatGPT-maker OpenAI confidentially filed for a U.S. initial public offering on Monday, joining rival Anthropic in a trillion-dollar rush for equity financing.
Key developments that could influence markets on Tuesday:
German industrial output, trade balance for April
U.S. trade balance for April, May existing home sales, May small business optimism
Informal dinner and exchange of views by ECB President Christine Lagarde and the Governing Council with EU Commissioner for Climate, Net Zero and Clean Growth
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