Key Takeaways
- • South Korea's National Pension Service's Magnificent Seven holdings were estimated to have lost about $2.048 billion (~2.78 trillion won) in a single day on Nov. 5, following the Democratic sweep of the U.S. midterm elections.
- • Nvidia accounted for roughly $942 million of the decline, nearly half the total, after its shares fell 9.26%; Tesla posted the steepest drop among the seven at 10.77%.
- • Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix fell 6.88% and 8.74%, and foreign investors net sold more than 2.7 trillion won (~$2.0 billion) in the two stocks.
- • Despite the one-day loss, the fund's M7 valuation remained about 4% above its end-June level, with the M7 holdings valued at roughly $45.382 billion at the Nov. 5 close.
Summary
Nvidia was the largest drag, with its shares down 9.26% and the fund's stake falling by about $942 million (~1.3 trillion won), roughly 46% of the total decline. Microsoft followed at about $302.8 million, and Tesla, which fell 10.77% on the day, shed about $249.9 million. Declines for Apple, Alphabet, Amazon and Meta were estimated at $168.3 million, $142 million, $122 million and $120.9 million, respectively.
Wall Street's selloff was led by technology and semiconductor stocks. The Nasdaq Composite fell 5.52%, the S&P 500 dropped 4.36%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 3.44%, and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index plunged 12.25%. Qualcomm's weak earnings, combined with concern that Democratic control of Congress could curb AI infrastructure investment, concentrated selling in chip stocks. Market watchers linked the decline to expectations that AI data center construction could face tighter regulation, reinforced by local referendums on data center construction held alongside the midterms that showed strong opposition or calls for delays. Some analysts argued it was too early to conclude AI capital spending had peaked, as delayed U.S. projects could be relocated elsewhere; Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet and Meta all rose on the day.
The shock spread to Korea. Samsung Electronics closed at 203,000 won (~$150), down 6.88%, and SK Hynix closed at 1.274 million won (~$940), down 8.74%. Samsung briefly fell below 200,000 won for the first time since July 29. Foreign investors net sold 3.4242 trillion won (~$2.5 billion) on the Kospi, including 3.1377 trillion won in electrical and electronics shares, with SK Hynix (1.5427 trillion won) and Samsung Electronics (1.1687 trillion won) the two largest net sales. Retail investors net bought 3.0105 trillion won and institutions 160.1 billion won.
Over the period since June 30, the NPS's M7 holdings remain about 4% higher, driven by gains in Microsoft (up 43.7%) and Apple (up 18.9%), which offset declines in Tesla (down 18.3%), Alphabet Class A (down 20.9%) and Nvidia (down 9.2%). NPS chairman Kim Seong-joo said on social media in August that 13F figures reflect only direct investments and that the fund's actual investment scale, including delegated management, is much larger.
Go deeper than the headline
Research every firm in this story, track the ones that matter and get the daily briefing — free for 7 days.